Monday, November 10, 2008

Week 7 Letter to the Editor

To Whom it May Concern "Allegedly,"

I was writing in response to the article that was published last week about the "alleged rape that occurred on Halloween. In reading the article I was a bit taken back by the outlandish comments regarding the response from the president of the fraternity when stating that, "she shouldn't have been there, she wasn't on the list." The first problem with even putting this response in the newspaper is the assumption that if she was on the list then she was "allegedly" signing up to be raped. This is a fundamental problem in how you reported on this article. The second thing that was disturbing about the article was the fact that you clearly reported on the fact that alcohol was furnished to a minor but made no clear mention that that was alleged or that anything was wrong. I feel like you have excused behavior from a male who is a "prominent pre-civil engineering student" and have put stigma that it is in turn the woman's fault for even being there. You have clearly reported on this as if she had "no right to be there." It is the key principle of a newspaper to write on issues that matter to the Oregon State community, yet you have failed to give as objective of an opinion as possible. I hope you take the time to review your skewed opinion on the "alleged" rape.

Sincerely, Donella Daggett

4 comments:

Heather Hoffman said...

I really liked your article because you hit a lot of the main points that we discussed in class and you did an excellent job of getting your point across that the editor was not just reporting the news. He seemed to be supporting what happened rather than doing his job of reporting without any biases or opinions.

Melissa said...

Your letter would have to be one of my favorites. You get your point across extremely well and bring up key points that were discussed in class and your agrument overall was great. I believe in class you made a comment about the quote "she shouldn't have been there, she wasn't on the list," and how if she was on the list then it's rape, and if she's not then it's not rape. This really stood out to me and I completely agree with you!

Erin Boshuizen said...

I agree with both Heather and Melissa the statement "she shouldnt have been there, she wasnt on the list," Makes the assumption that is she werent there no rape would have happened. If it werent her it would have been some other girl. The only thing i have to add is how the editor manipulate the words of what was stated. Who is to know what was really said but he certainly does use that to his advantage.

Danielle Taber said...

After reading your letter to the editor I think that you pointed out the main points of the article and addressed them appropriately to the writer. You took what we have learned in class and applied to this particular incidence. I think you did a good job writing this letter and I agree with the points you have made.