Liberal 'Tolerance' For the First Amendment

New Conservative Paper at Marquette Is Under Attack

from the Marquette Warrior

Liberals at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., took a culinary approach to delivering a message to conservative students who started an alternative newspaper last week: You're not welcome.

The business manager of the publication, The Warrior, woke up last Thursday to egg and ketchup on his house and profane signage placed on his lawn. This is the liberal response to conservatives exercising 1st Amendment rights.

The independently run publication released its first edition of the year November 2. The Warrior is an alternative news source to help fill the information gap on campus. Before The Warrior, Marquette had one student newspaper, the University-sponsored Marquette Tribune.

In Tuesday’s issue, the second edition since the release of The Warrior, the Tribune ran a news story and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” editorial. It called on The Warrior to be accountable in guaranteeing the publishing of the truth and claimed to embrace new competition on the information front. Within hours of the publication’s distribution, the campus, and beyond, was buzzing. There have been floods of emails offering financial support, asking for subscriptions, and expressing support.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a front-page story this past Saturday about The Warrior in light of Thursday’s events. The story ran with plenty of inaccuracies and blog quotes, but lacked fact-checking and quote confirmation. As editor in chief, Diana Sroka (who the Journal Sentinel never interviewed) stated in a press release, “It’s ironic that The Warrior’s mission is to promote accuracy, and yet Milwaukee’s major newspaper botches the story on its front page.” Poor reporting like this is exactly why The Warrior is needed.

The Journal Sentinel reporter asked three members of the editorial board if they were members of College Republicans. Even though they responded “yes,” asking only three of the more than 25 members apparently justified labeling The Warrior as a “Republican” newspaper.

Assigning a partisan label implies the paper and its members affiliate with that party. The Warrior is neither funded by any political group nor is the collective staff Republican. What if the reporter had asked the editorial board members their sexual orientation? If they all answered homosexual, would the reporter called it the “homosexual” newspaper?

No matter how it is classified, The Warrior is simply just a student service for Marquette—another source of information to help them discern the truth. Its coverage is unique because it adopts different perspectives on issues. It isn’t liberal-bashing editorials, but fact-based journalism seeking to bring out the truth the mainstream media neglects.

This issue’s centerpiece story reported on the experiences of a student Marine veteran who fought in Iraq. While the mainstream media would divert the story’s attention to the death toll and pull-out deadlines, The Warrior focused on the Marine’s pride and accomplishments.

Another story exposed the racist approach to Marquette’s diversity initiatives. While the mainstream media would report that university’s lack of racial and ethnic diversity, The Warrior reported the university’s lack of political and ideological diversity.

The status quo becomes uneasy at the rise of an outsider and an influx of information. Publications like The Warrior are a dangerous threat to the university’s, and perhaps the media industry’s information monopoly.

Maybe they should be nervous if a group of amateur college journalists can pick out a professional’s flaws, gain local and national recognition within days, and double its circulation after just two issues.

Egg on your face may be an insult for liberals and the information elite, but egg on a house seems to be an honor for conservatives.

more Liberals Continue to Attack the Warrior