To the Editor:
The Dartmouth's editorial board and its reporter have done a dishonor to their own organization's alumni, to themselves and to the College community in reporting the Zeta Psi fraternity matter. How is that, you may ask? Simple, "The D" has crossed the line from journalist to creative writer. It appears that campus news is at a slow-point right now so that the staff of the paper has to make news rather than report on it. In this instance, Rachel Osterman and the entire editorial board have created a gross breach of the most basic of journalistic ethics -- don't become part of the story. Instead, it now appears that "The D" needs to create a situation where there was none by single-handedly pulling the administration, the City of Hanover and the Hanover Police into a story through which the paper can keep its headlines rolling and its stories sensational in nature. As evidenced in the article, Ms. Osterman has steered her questions and conversations with the various departments involved into one of trying to get them to take action against Zeta Psi as it presently exists. She is trying to make action happen, rather than reporting on what has actually occurred. What better way to keep people reading than to create a scandalous story?
Instead of reporting on the news as it has happened, "The D" has now decided to invent situations that it can "scoop" and broadcast to the entire community. Rather than acting as a legitimate news organization deserving of praise (as it has with storylines having to do with the horrible murders of two beloved members of the Dartmouth community), it has evolved itself into something more like the "National Enquirer" through use of tabloid journalism in its reporting. What's most ironic in this instance is that by throwing its journalistic ethics out the window, "The D" has turned itself into something not much better than the idiotic Zeta Psi newsletters that started this "story."
