I would like to begin by saying the Lantern does amazing work. I have read every issue that has come out since I started school here. Because I read every issue, I know your stories and op-ed pieces are held to a certain standard.
I am writing to you today because of two op-ed pieces in your latest issue that I believe did not meet those standards. They not only didn’t meet your standards, they were sloppy, inaccurate and offensive.
The writer made many attacks at both the intelligence of the American people and the strength of our military. I feel his claims in both columns are not only false, but offensive and poorly researched.
First, the column titled “Mainstream media ignores important stories,” I was drawn to this column because of its subject matter, but upon reading it, I found it sounding less like a well-informed column and more like a post I would read on Facebook.
The writer claims that news is not covering everything happening in our country and only focusing on politics or more specifically Donald Trump. He sourced three news apps on his phone and claimed that there was an excessive amount of Trump stories.
With that I would agree. I have these same apps and there does tend to be a lot of Trump stories, but this does not mean that is the only news being written. Logging in to those same apps today, I saw a story about college debt, a story about the Parkland shooting, etc.
In your column, you asked the question “Why do I care this much?” I think I can answer that for you. You should care about what the president is doing because he represents this country, and he has made many controversial choices that affect the entire nation. If you were wondering why there are so many stories about Trump, it is because there is so much to report on, and as journalists it is our job to keep the country informed on what is happening in our country. I would suggest to the writer of this column to not look too much at national news for the specific stories you want to read.
In the second column, I took personal offence because I grew up in a military family. I hold our country’s military to the utmost respect. I understand this column did not intend to offend those in the military, and the writer’s voice was targeting those not joining, but it did not end up that way.
The claim in this column is that military retention was down, because America is coddling its youth and raising people who would rather go to college than join the military.
This is not the reality. Army Secretary Mark Esper tightened the number of recruits the Army would accept from the lowest percentile of test scores and other quality measures, from four percent of overall recruits to two percent.
In an interview with the Army Times, Esper even said “We honestly left some potential recruits on the table who completely met standards,”
The military also raised its goal of recruitment by 11,000 this year so not only did they turn away recruits who were technically “qualified” they also raised the number they wanted. This was a recipe for unattainable goals. We must also not forget Donald Trump called for a transgender ban for the military, which also could end up deterring many people from joining the military. The ban came into place Friday, April 12.
I stress that researching a topic before reporting on it even in an opinion piece is very important. I do not want to deter this writer from writing future op-ed pieces, but I strongly suggest he become informed before joining the discussion.
Noah Merrell