I will never forget the moment I felt everything I had worked for and my entire career path discredited in one conversation. A conversation not with a stranger but among my inner circle. The people who had seen behind the scenes of my work for the past three years still could not grasp the significance of what I do.

When discussing a recent Optimist report regarding a student arrest, I was bombarded with questions like, “Why would you post that?”

My response was, “It’s news, and it’s our job to report it.”

What followed has not left my mind since.

“No, you should be reporting about positive things!” my friend said.

It was that moment that I realized the assumption that student media is less important than other media outlets still exists– even among my own friends.

The truth is, student media exists to ask difficult questions, hold people accountable and seek the truth above all, even if some people would prefer to sweep that truth under the rug.

Student media is the very freedom that our First Amendment is designed to protect. Student media is real journalism, and it deserves to be respected.

As editor in chief of The Optimist, I have seen the community praise us one day for covering fun events and rage against us the next because we published a story highlighting policy issues or because they don’t agree with our Sing Song predictions. 

At the core of these conflicts is a lack of understanding that our mission is to serve the community, keep our audience informed and provide a platform for student voices, sometimes in a way that other media outlets can’t.

Student media takes on difficult stories and highlights impact. We look at what’s going on around campus, and we think, “What would students say about this?” 

My most recent encounter with this was the story I wrote regarding the Charlie Kirk shooting. To put it bluntly, I was not excited to write that story. In fact, I felt sick after I had received the news about his death. It weighed heavily on me. But I knew we had to report it.

With all of the political discourse and online tension, we needed to take an unbiased, mature approach and look at how this affected students, including the grief, anger and calls for change.

I hoped that no matter how you felt about Kirk, you could read that story and see that something needed to change. You could see that people were hurting, people needed grace, and those conversations can be approached without hate. If I had not reported on the community impact or the candlelight vigil, I would have been doing a disservice to our audience.

Student media does not shy away from difficult conversations, and it most definitely does not shy away from holding people accountable.

When it comes to arrests or other disciplinary actions, we have and always will report on them. At the beginning of the year, I received criticism about The Optimist’s coverage regarding the arrest of a player on the men’s basketball team.

My response to that criticism was that students and faculty, especially ones in the spotlight, should be held accountable for their actions. This is the same response The Optimist has always issued. In 1982, the Optimist staff defended their reasoning for writing about arrests.

“We are interested in maintaining the Christian atmosphere of ACU,” the editorial said. “We believe this is better accomplished by publicizing problems and dealing with them than by hiding them and hoping they don’t recur.” 

We do not cover arrests or legal issues because we want to embarrass people. As a student, I often wish I could avoid conflict or backlash from my peers. But we cover arrests to deter participation in illegal activities and show that actions have consequences. At a private Christian university, we want to uphold the values of Christianity, which include the command to make our faults known and confess our sins rather than hide them. It is our job to document and inform instead of covering it up.

While student media may seem like an unserious learning tool to some, it contains the same principles and goals as any other professional media outlet. To discredit student media is to dismiss the value and impact of students’ voices. 

While the responsibility and significance of The Optimist may be new to you, we’ve been doing this for over a century. Our platform exists to promote truth even when it’s not favorable. If you want a better campus, start respecting the people who work to tell its story.