By Beacon Editorial Board
According to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
This initial amendment guarantees you and every American citizen the freedom to say what you want where you want about whomever you want without facing legal consequences.
As a newspaper, we are allowed to say what we want about whom we want, provided it is neither slanderous nor libelous.
While we are allowed to print whatever we want (so long as it is not libelous), our goal as a newspaper staff is not to alienate readers.
Rather, it is to present the most newsworthy information in an objective, timely and easy-to-read fashion without causing any single person or group of people offense.
That being said, it is also our job as a newspaper to print what you, our audience, is thinking, feeling, and/or grappling with morally.
In short, our job as a newspaper is to act as a mouthpiece for the UP community. At times, people unassociated with The Beacon will write in and we value and welcome their opinions. But we are not responsible for them.
As long as it is not libelous (to the best of our knowledge), it is our job to print it. Before we continue, let us define slander and libel.
In general, libel is defined as harmful writing, while slander refers to harmful speech.
By that definition, this newspaper does not concern itself with slander due to the fact that our material is not broadcast. However, we do concern ourselves with issues of libel.
To libel someone is to damage their reputation by publishing false statements about their activities or character.
One can sue for libel if the following occurs: the libelous material is transmitted to a third party, has harmed the subject's reputation, decreased their source of income, or caused them to be shunned and/or ridiculed in any way, and if the journalist was at fault, meaning that they were negligent in their reporting.
Thomas Jefferson said it best: "The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure."
What you are reading right now is our opinion.
We, the editorial board of The Beacon reserve this single column of the Opinions section for our viewpoint on matters both close to home and far away.
It is our mouthpiece unto the reader. Much as you, the reader, have use of the Opinions section to sound off with your viewpoints and voices, we use this column to let you know what we think.
Our opinion is your opportunity as a reader to see what we think, and to hopefully take an active interest in what we're saying.
If we as an organization inspire you to think critically about a topic you haven't paid attention to before then we have succeeded in our efforts.
If that thought prompts you to write in with your own opinion, than we've expanded a dialogue to the entire student body. This sort of community discourse goes hand in hand with a healthy opinions section.
We feel that it is important to set an example of a balanced and thoughtful opinion for the reader.
