Editorial

First and foremost, The Loyola Maroon is a forum for the dissemination of information and expression of our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech. The various news sections of the paper — News, Sports and parts of Life & Times — are used to report, objectively and factually, information.

The Opinion and Editorial section, on the other hand is used, specifically and exclusively, as a platform for the student body to make their voice and their opinion heard.

As a newspaper that strives to be as professional as possible, The Maroon does not discriminate in the opinions it prints. We do not arbitrarily decide not to print someone’s opinion because we disagree with it, or because someone might find it offensive.

As long as submissions are relevant, well written, not patently offensive (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) and makes clear that the writer is imparting an opinion, The Maroon feels that, in good conscience, it has no right to not print a piece. Part of being an unbiased editor is not picking and choosing what goes to print. That being said, libel is a very serious issue.

Very briefly, a piece is legally considered libelous if it is an attack on the character of a private individual and is false. A piece is not considered libel if the subject of the piece is a criticism of a public figure operating in a public capacity.

In other words, it would still be libel if, for example, someone wrote that it was his opinion that a mayor was an abusive father, but not libel if the writer said that he thought the mayor had done a poor job and ran the city into the ground.

Key to that, is the concept of a private individual, or rather what constitutes a public figure. Anyone who occupies a place of public leadership or service is considered a public figure. On a campus, this includes leaders of organizations who work directly with the student body.

Again, for a piece to be considered libelous, the content must both be presented as fact and be false information. If the content is an opinion of a public figure serving in a public capacity or if the content is true, it is not libel.

The Maroon’s code of ethics is very clear on the handling of opinion pieces and accusatory opinion pieces in particular.

“Any individual or group criticized anywhere in The Maroon has the right to reply. Indeed, The Maroon encourages response. Short of malice and reckless disregard for the truth, all debates on public issues in The Maroon may be ‘uninhibited, robust and wide open’ (New York Times v. Sullivan).”

As is stated, everyone can, and should, reply. The Opinion and Editorial section was created to promote discussion of public issues at Loyola University New Orleans, and The Maroon stands behind that 100 percent.

The Maroon code of ethics can found at www.css.loyno.edu/masscomm/student-media-code-ethics