Out of touch with AU students, Plainsman has been killing itself
The Auburn Plainsman is dying and we’ll tell you why. According to its editorial board, this is largely due to the failure of the “business side of the newspaper to generate revenue.” This shameless excuse unfortunately fails to appropriately capture the real reasons for the paper’s decline.
The publication has long been out of touch with the sensibilities, priorities and worldview of the students at Auburn University. This regretfully has been a long, slow process that stems from insular thinking and a distorted idea of the paper’s purpose. Instead of providing a media outlet in which the student body of Auburn University is expressed and reflected, the Plainsman has gone out of its way to denigrate the very people it supposes to represent.
Whether it be the steady drumbeat of character assassinations, the regular demonization of the Greek community or the unhinged caterwauling calling for the removal of leadership in campus organizations, the Plainsman has intentionally set itself up as a confrontational and divisive entity on campus.
By blaming its business management, the editorial board has pompously abrogated their responsibility in the paper’s failure. They have displayed a propensity of being quick to judge others and slow to judge themselves. The Plainsman is a business. And the editors are the ones responsible for providing the product. If a business provides an inferior product and goes out of its way to disparage its customer base, is it any wonder that it goes belly up?
Alex Schriver
Auburn University junior, Political Science
Chandler Harris
Auburn University junior, Economics
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