Date: Wed, 19 Apr 1995 18:29:38 -0500 (CDT) From: Kevyn Jacobs To: "Kansas Queer News [KQN]" Subject: UDK: LETTERS ABOUT MOORE STORY FROM THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS - LAWRENCE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR APRIL 13, 1995 ================================ MOORE'S POLICE RECORD WAS SENSATIONALIZED Matt Gowen's column in Friday's Kansan was a balanced, responsible reaction to a potentially volatile situation. The story in question was irresponsible and sensationalized. I was among the protesters who helped carry the load of papers up the Hill toward the pile. I thought hard about what I was doing and why it was important. As a writer, I am greatly concerned about First Amendment rights. I treasure my own so much that I will even defend the rights of those whose views I find repugnant, a.k.a. the Rev. Fred Phelps or the KKK. However, while Moore's resignation from LesBiGay Services of Kansas, perhaps including his statements about his HIV status, would comprise one story, the disclosure of his police record was another. It should have shared space with similar information: the details of the police records of other Student Senate candidates, which was buried on the third page. Moore's police record is no more, or less, relevant than those of the other two candidates mentioned and for that reason should have been restricted to the same space. In light of the fact that last week was LesBiGayS OK Awareness Week and the last week before Senate elections, the Kansan's treatment of this issue was sensationalist, tabloid journalism. -TED FLEMING, Lawrence freshman KANSAN STAFF, EDITORS DID THE RIGHT THING I have to say that I support wholeheartedly the Kansan's decision to run the controversial Eric Moore story. First, may I remind some students of the Darren Fulcher controversy of 1991. Fulcher's past criminal records were not made public when first discovered by a Kansan reporter. When the Kansan finally published a report that Fulcher had charges of abuse on his record, the campus was outraged that the Kansan had not disclosed the information sooner. This time the Kansan printed information that it felt the students of this campus should know as soon as it was uncovered. There was a very different reaction this time around. Instead of praising the Kansan for timely reporting, people were outraged that the controversial issue was published, period Second, I was terribly disappointed in the action taken by the students who felt it was their duty to protect their peers from the controversial article printed in last Thursday's Kansan. There are certainly better ways to protest than censoring a publication. I was further disappointed by fliers posted on campus depicting the Kansan editor as some sort of tabloid journalist. Did Steve Martino publish that article for personal satisfaction or to stir things up? I think not. I think that Martino was doing his job-- he was printing the news. I also noticed that Martino had the nerve to identify that it was his decision to run the story--he was obviously prepared to take the heat. Whoever made up the fliers did not. What does that say to you? The Kansan is not going to please everyone all the time--that is not its job. I applaud the Kansan and its staff for having the courage to publish this story -DANIELLE RAYMOND, Wilmette, Ill, senior