2008 Woodie Awards
Editor's Column: NBC 10 security investigation misleading, overly sensational
Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Opinion
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A newly beefed-up security presence has been put into place around campus in response to an NBC 10 news report claiming that our dormitories' security is inadequate. The validity of this claim is debatable. The modified system is not perfect, but neither were the original security protocols. Though serious crimes in residence halls have, in recent years, been sparse, such crimes are certainly possible, as the recent robbery in Campion shows. Anonymous people can at times freely enter campus buildings, either because of a lack of security or tampering with existing security devices by residents. Though some of the new measures are misguided - for example, the removal of the beloved Bernie and the increased obsession with searching incoming students for alcohol - verifying the identity of anyone trying to get into a dorm is good for safety and, at worst, a minor inconvenience.
But regardless of imperfections in the campus' security, that certainly does not excuse NBC 10's uneven methods, misleading reporting, and blatant preference for scare tactics over honest journalism. The station sent an intern to try to bypass security and enter dormitories at four area campuses and compared the results of these tests. However, the reporters ignored the important differences in the times the tests took place and what was counted as a passing grade. The two "failures" - at St. Joe's and Rowan University - occurred during the middle of the day, whereas Temple and Widener "passed" the test at night, which at Widener simply meant that the entrance was locked, with no one guaranteeing that it will stay that way as students leave and enter. The urgent tone of the report may have fooled the casual television viewer into missing these discrepancies, but for most of the St. Joe's community, the site of a college-aged individual with a book bag entering a dormitory at a time when students all over campus are coming and going from classes is not really a cause for alarm.
Another thing to look at is the NBC reporting team's lack of knowledge about the security in campus residence halls, or possibly, their intentionally vague characterization of it. The report states that the undercover intern easily made it through the lobby and even managed to make it "onto several floors," meaning that he was able to roam around the hallways in LaFarge. Any St. Joe's student seeing the report knows that all student living quarters were still safely behind locked doors that require an I.D. to open. NBC, however, chose not to mention that to any viewers who weren't aware of that fact.
But regardless of imperfections in the campus' security, that certainly does not excuse NBC 10's uneven methods, misleading reporting, and blatant preference for scare tactics over honest journalism. The station sent an intern to try to bypass security and enter dormitories at four area campuses and compared the results of these tests. However, the reporters ignored the important differences in the times the tests took place and what was counted as a passing grade. The two "failures" - at St. Joe's and Rowan University - occurred during the middle of the day, whereas Temple and Widener "passed" the test at night, which at Widener simply meant that the entrance was locked, with no one guaranteeing that it will stay that way as students leave and enter. The urgent tone of the report may have fooled the casual television viewer into missing these discrepancies, but for most of the St. Joe's community, the site of a college-aged individual with a book bag entering a dormitory at a time when students all over campus are coming and going from classes is not really a cause for alarm.
Another thing to look at is the NBC reporting team's lack of knowledge about the security in campus residence halls, or possibly, their intentionally vague characterization of it. The report states that the undercover intern easily made it through the lobby and even managed to make it "onto several floors," meaning that he was able to roam around the hallways in LaFarge. Any St. Joe's student seeing the report knows that all student living quarters were still safely behind locked doors that require an I.D. to open. NBC, however, chose not to mention that to any viewers who weren't aware of that fact.
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