We Don't Get Paid Just to Hear "No Comment"

Eddie R. Cole Jr.

Now, eight issues into the semester, I can officially say that Tennessee State University has brought me back to reality. And to think I believed the university administration, faculty and staff would satisfy my journalistic desires.

I was sadly mistaken. The lack of cooperation toward The Meter is amazing. Not unbelievable, but amazing.

I was spoiled rotten this summer. I was getting paid to do something I enjoy, reporting for a newspaper.

I interned on the city desk at the Macon Telegraph, a daily in Macon, Ga., for 10 weeks, and attended journalism workshops at Columbia University in New York and at the University of Georgia. I met and talked with some of the most influential and busy individuals in America.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Aaron Brown, co-host of CNN's "NewsNight," Jim Kelly, managing editor of Time magazine, Macon Mayor Jack Ellis, Kent Frantz, National Weather Service hydrologist, and trust me, many more, all fielded my questions with no "Uh, Uh, let me get back to you" or "no comment" in reply.

Clearly, I was handling my business as a reporter. And from all of those interviews and discussions, I am more experienced and developed as a journalist. But I've returned home and have begun to hear again, "Uh, Uh, let me get back to you," "no comment" and "he's out of town right now."

It's baffling that Tennessee State officials are busier than Jackson, the CEO of the Georgia Lottery or the mayor of Macon. I understand not getting around to answering a telephone call that day and maybe the next, but for an entire semester?

I called Chad Roberts, a fellow editor at a weekly student newspaper, and asked him whether his school, North Carolina A&T, had similar problems and, if so, why.

Chad's simple answer was yes. His reasoning was even simpler.

"I think a lot of it is fear," Roberts said. University officials "fear what you're going to write is out of context. They fear they will say the wrong thing." His solution: "They need to grow a backbone."

He said it, not me -- but I agree.

Answer our questions or respond in a timely manner. You pay us to tell us "no comment."

I can get a straight answer from Mayor Ellis, and if you know his situation, you know that's not easy. Macon's financial woes are second to none; however, even Jack, a servant of the people, elected by the people, would talk on the record knowing he couldn't dictate what the reporter wrote or how his comments would be used.

Take my word for it. The last thing I aim to do is make someone "look or sound bad." I just report, as The Meter's mission statement reads, the "highlights" and "lowlights" of Tennessee State and its community to "foster a positive change."

We spend countless nights, or mornings, in the newsroom in an effort to better Tennessee State.

So, university officials, trust me and my staff on this one. We aren't going to stop reporting the news, and we aren't going to stop asking the tough questions.

I want fair treatment in our preparation to enter the world, and for you to grow a backbone.

Eddie R. Cole Jr., a student at Tennessee State University, is editor-in-chief of the Meter.

Posted Nov. 1, 2005