In the last month, Mustang News covered two stories centered around Cal Poly’s Turning Point USA chapter in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Rather than ignoring the backlash our organization is receiving about these stories, I want to explain our reporting standards and how we publish stories.
What we published
On Sept. 30, we published Cal Poly Turning Point USA chapter and Active Church host Charlie Kirk vigil at the Performing Arts Center in written, audio, video and photo formats. We also posted live updates of the event on our Instagram story.
A week later, we released our October print edition with the front cover story, Cal Poly’s Turning Point USA chapter seeks dialogue and growth after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
For the first story, we created a coverage plan that reflected the magnitude of the on-campus vigil and did justice to the localization of an event that captured national attention. Without much prior knowledge of the vigil’s schedule, we covered the event to inform our audience of what was occurring on campus, especially given how many people attended, as we would with any event of such high magnitude that meets our standard for newsworthiness.
As for the front cover, this story is meant to provide context about the club and address its rapidly growing presence on campus, especially exploring where this puts Cal Poly in the nation’s larger political conversation.
We received some comments about these stories being one-sided or biased. In our past coverage about TPUSA events, we reported on counter-protests and feelings of discomfort from the student body.
In Dec. 2023, TPUSA hosted “A Dad and a Detransitioner’s Take on the Transgender Movement,” which we covered. In our coverage, we addressed both the event overview and the drag show Cal Poly Drag Club hosted in counter protest.
We have run other stories about TPUSA events that included event overviews, student reactions and previews.
Our coverage surrounding TPUSA is not meant to promote or vilify any group. I strongly implore you to read both recent stories in their entirety to make reasoned judgments about our coverage. You may also find it helpful to look at our past reporting to see how different developments can shape the way we cover political groups.
As student journalists, we are part of the community we are serving. While I don’t think that should discourage you from taking our work seriously, it’s important to note that we are dedicated to uplifting student contributors and grow by learning from our reporting experiences. That is why discourse and general conversation surrounding our coverage is integral to our growth, not only as a newsroom, but as a community. We want to provide a platform to hear your opinions.
Where does editorial fall into this?
If you want to read more about how we approach our coverage, please visit our MMG Values Guide. We have a strict ethical policy that helps us in directing our content production.
Beyond the standards that have shaped our newsroom policies for years, there are a few new practices in our newsroom this year with new leadership. Each month, Jeremy Garza, Mustang News’ Managing Editor, and I write a letter from the editors to explain our decisions on coverage, give you insight into a student-run newsroom and encourage you to connect with us in whatever way you are comfortable.
Since implementing this structure, we also started recording a monthly podcast to elaborate further on our letter and explain some of our decisions. I strongly urge you to give the October podcast a listen for a better understanding of why we chose to feature the TPUSA story on our front cover.
In that same podcast episode, Jeremy and I discussed how our identities shape the narratives we pursue. As newsroom leaders, we are cognizant of our intersectional identities and how we can reach more students through our own personal experiences. Within the first two months on the job, we have actively pursued stories that represent a larger part of the student body. However, this is still a work in progress. There are always going to be stories to uncover and we need your help in staying alert about less visible situations, events and profiles on campus.
How to contact us
If there is additional reporting you believe we are missing, I strongly encourage you to reach out to us at editorial@mustangmediagroup.com. I am more than happy to speak with you about areas where we can improve in our coverage.
The discourse following the publication of these two stories provided our newsroom with a clear snapshot of our community’s perspectives. For that, I am incredibly grateful. Going forward, I will continue to consider all this feedback and encourage community members to reach out about coverage gaps. I am grasping a better understanding of the community we serve and working on new ways we can tackle difficult conversations together.
Carly Heltzel, the Mustang News News Editor, edited and contributed to explaining past news coverage in this letter.