One of the major flaws of every newspaper is that it cannot report everything that is important to everyone. The very definition of the word news can mean many things to different people, so it is understandable that what is newsworthy to one person is not necessarily newsworthy to all. This point was touched on at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Black Think Tank along with the idea of forming a black newsletter that would cater more toward the interests of African-American students at SIUC.

The Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press, therefore forming a newsletter is always encouraged because it is a right that everyone has. If people do not like the quality of one news source, then they have an obligation to change it. A black newsletter is not only a good idea for African-American students, but every group on campus who does not feel that enough attention is being given to their viewpoint should follow this example and start a newsletter of their own.

One of the greatest things about going to a university is that it presents people with a wide diversity of culture and ideas that some people may not have had before. But it is this wide cultural background that presents a problem to college newspapers a problem that newspapers in larger cities may not face as much.

College newspapers, for the most part, are free to the students and surrounding community. Because of this, the content in them is not based on subscriptions. Therefore, there is no kind of regulation on what kind of news should get more attention. For example, if a newspaper has a high Mexican-American subscription rate, that newspaper is going to cater more toward events that cater to the Mexican-American culture.

A newspaper that is free to the public, however, has to look at the news that is available to it and report it from a very broad perspective. This is one of the reasons that some events may not get reported or why some events take precedence over others. A college newspaper has to guess about what kind of news is going to mean the most to the general public.

This is also a reason why a black newsletter is a very good idea. It would offer the African-American students on campus access to news that directly caters to their viewpoint. At the same time, it would also be an alternative to the traditional viewpoint that is presented to the community from other news sources.

One drawback about a newsletter, however, is that sometimes that can defeat the very purpose for which it was created. For example, many newsletters are created because other newspapers only give one perspective. If a newsletter is going to be fair with its coverage, it should also seek more than one viewpoint if it is going to report news events accurately.

A black newsletter would offer students a different medium of news coverage. It is a good idea because of this, and the students who would like to see one are encouraged to get involved. Other people also are encouraged to get involved with their own news publications if they would like to see a change in the traditional news presented to them. One of the founding principles of the United States was to give everyone an equal right to have their voice heard. If some people feel that creating a newsletter is one way of making sure their voice is heard, then they are certainly encouraged to do so.