New controversy at the Daily Tar Heel

Check out the latest controversy at the Daily Tar Heel! Less than a month after firing columnist Jillian Bandes for ascribing to some university Muslims that they were okay with being “sexed up” and cavity-searched, reporter Natalie Hammel has been dismissed for a similar offense. In a story on interracial couples at UNC, she stated that a black student was attracted to his girlfriend because she looked different, i.e. not black.

Understandably, the student was not happy to be ascribed this superficial trait (almost self-loathing). He corrected the record with a letter to the editor, where he made the point that it was possible to identify with one’s race while embracing another’s race. That’s an admirable example of tolerance.

When a journalist chooses words that misrepresent a subject’s beliefs and feelings, he or she commits a cardinal sin of journalism. It’s a shame, but the integrity of the Daily Tar Heel must be maintained.

Everything I’ve just said is true, except there’s no controversy, the reporter has not been fired, and the editors of the Daily Tar Heel have been exposed as hypocrites. It didn’t even take a month for this to happen. Natalie Hammel is just as guilty of “creating an inaccurate reflection” as opinion columnist Jillian Bandes was, but she got away with it.