Student Press Has Varied Rote — Says Ian Cross

TV Commentator Ian Cross spoke recently to members of Salient's staff.

He devoted the first part of his talk to the aims of a good journalist Mr. Cross stressed that a competent journalist should be very careful to distinguish, in hi and in other people's writing between facts, inference and opinion.

It was not a bad thing to infer or to exercise judgment when writing an article, but the conscientious journalist had to make it quite clear to his readers that he was doing so. Equally, he claimed, the discriminating reader had to ensure that he was aware at all times whether he was reading facts, inferences, or judgments.

The audience was invited to read they news article chosen at random from Time magazine, and to pick out the facts, inferences and judgments. The result, said Mr. Cross, would be that inferences and judgments would outweigh the facts in a ratio of about 6:4.

Speaking about the role that he believed a student paper should play, he stated that firstly it had to provide the "bread and butter" information that student on campus needed to know. Secondly, it has to carry out a dual function: it has to publish the work of students interested in contributing original thought, and it has to provide intelligent criticism of all things that concern students.

"The adults of today," he said, are busy erecting totem poles which they want you, the younger generation, to bow down to. It is your job to test the strength of these totem poles—if you can cut them down, do so without hesitation."

And a few sentences later, Cross said, perhaps a shade wistfully.

"If I were young again, I would regard anything said or written by any person over 30 with the greatest suspicion—and that cover me I suppose."

Later, in a question and answer session, it was pointed out that a conflict often arose between what is desired and what is in fact submitted. This conflict, it was pointed out, was unfortunate, because it was between two of the basic functions of the newspaper. Cross acknowledged the argument.

The discriminating reader is left to work out for himself the ratio of inferences and judgments to facts in this article.