The Hunter Envoy

Dear Hunter College Students and Community Members:

Having been the lead individual responsible for planning and organizing "Hunter USG Presents...Talib Kweli", I am disappointed by the nature and quality of this article. This article compromises much of the progress that the Envoy has made this past year. The journalist who covered the event failed to actually report on it. Rather, he provided an editorialistic review of it. As an involved member of the Hunter community, I know I and, I assume, many other members would have appreciated some relevant information on what was one of the biggest events hosted at Hunter College in the past several years. Attendance information that was provided to the author was not published nor were any student interviews conducted - neither with attendees to represent their opinions nor with planners for their perspective. Overall, any student that has taken intro to media studies can realize that this article failed to articulate any journalistic principles or practices. I can only hope The Envoy returns to its steadily improving course with this article as a roadbump.

Thank you,
Alex Kohen

Dear Alex Kohen,

I usually keep my opinions to myself when an Envoy writer is criticized but, in this case, I feel compelled to respond to your comment. You claim that Insanul's "article failed to articulate any journalistic principles or practices." Insanul's piece was a concert review. A concert review is an analysis and evaluation of a live performance. Just as movie reviewers do not necessarily conduct interviews with filmmakers or audience members as part of his/her review, a concert reviewer is not necessarily obliged to interview audience members or the organizers of the concert under review. A concert review is an account of the reviewer's personal evaluation of a given performance. It is, by definition, subjective and editorial in nature. He/she is not obliged to exercise any journalistic objectivity--indeed, he/she is expected not to.

The Envoy has been publishing reviews in this manner for years. It is clear that you took issue with this particular article because it involved an event that you organized, but this was not a personal attack.

I did not go to the concert and, therefore, I cannot agree or disagree with Insanul's evaluation. However, I do think that your comments--in the form of an open letter to the Hunter community, no less!--were both unfair and unprofessional. Disagreeing with Insanul's evaluation of the concert is one thing; it is quite another to accuse him of lacking journalistic integrity. The Envoy looks forward to working with USG next year, but we ask that members of your organization exercise more consideration before questioning the journalistic integrity of one of our writers.

Joe Ireland
Editor in Chief

Thank you Joe, you took the words right out of my mouth. And Alex, if you want to see a really "editoralish" version of this review, I suggest you check out my blog: www.incilin.blogspot.com