The Alligator’s coverage of the shooting of UF graduate student Kofi Adu-Brempong has been shameful. The story was first reported not as a front-page headline, as warranted, but buried deep within the paper. What pressing development grabbed the front page headline that day?
Alligator alumnus and Miami Herald reporter Carl Hiaasen had given an improvisational, unpaid talk the day before. Student is shot by campus police — Page 4. Reporter/author has chat with small crowd — large-font headline on the front page. For shame, Alligator.
Following a day of student protest over the shooting of a fellow student, the Alligator again gave the headline away — this time to the Gainesville mayoral race. Yes, student voter apathy is a problem, but given the perfect opportunity to headline student activism, the Alligator dropped the ball. For shame, Alligator.
Speaking on behalf of the Alligator Editorial Board, Jared Misner opined: “We at the editorial board don’t feel we have the authority to recommend firing a public official, but we do question why the officer who shot Adu-Brempong, Keith Smith, who was involved in a 2009 incident in which police officers harassed and threw eggs at residents, was even in this position.”
If the Alligator must seek authority for its opinions, it is no longer truly independent. What the Alligator has become is yellow. And Misner and the rest of the editorial staff are yellow journalists.
I feel it likely that Mr. Hiaasen, the take-no-prisoners, hard-hitting, muckraking reporter that the Alligator staffers so dearly admire, would not be impressed. For shame, Alligator.
Editor’s note: The initial story on the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong appeared on Page 4 only because all other pages had been sent to the printer when the Alligator received information.
Had information been available earlier, the story absolutely would have appeared on the front page.
