OPINION
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Friday, January 11, 2019
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
“From the Newsroom” series will further The Daily’s transparency Dear Reader,
I am excited to introduce “From the Newsroom,” an initiative by The Daily Northwestern newsroom with the intention of fostering better engagement with our readers and community. This space will provide a behind-thescenes look at how we do the news. Facing an era of declining trust in media, it is more important than ever that we are transparent about our newsmaking process.
We often rely on our readers for feedback to ensure our reporting is fair, accurate and of the highest quality. We’ve initiated efforts to achieve similar goals in the past, such as the public editor position, a former independent voice accountable to The Daily’s readers with free range to discuss the organization’s operations. Social media has given us an easily accessible medium to receive feedback and reach our readers. But with this new initiative, we hope to formalize our goal of engaging our audience, while also making the newsroom more accessible. “From the Newsroom” will be a place for our newsroom to publish stories that explain our processes, such as how we correct errors and how we decide what exactly is newsworthy. It will also be a place for readers to submit questions, feedback, comments and story
tips. We want our readers to know how we are considering their feedback, even if it doesn’t always result in a response. Because the newsroom has been everchanging since its creation at Northwestern in 1881, it is important to recognize that the processes we discuss in “From the Newsroom” are from more recent years, focusing primarily on this quarter with our new leadership in place. We are constantly updating and revising the way we report, edit and operate, and we want to ensure that we highlight those changes in this series. We plan to address topics such as how our editorial board changes every quarter, the ways in which we address the privacy of the Northwestern community and how we handle anonymous sources, as well as how we determine our day-to-day coverage for both print
and online. If you are wondering what to expect, several national publications have begun a similar trend of initiatives. You can check out The New York Times’ Reader Center and ProPublica Illinois’ “Ask ProPublica Illinois.” Each publication takes a different approach to its transparency and responses to the community. To submit questions, ideas or suggestions, please email me at eic@dailynorthwestern. com. You can also mail a letter to 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60201, Office H. In the near future, we plan to have a dedicated page on our website for these submissions, and we will try our best to respond publicly to each one. We look forward to hearing from you, and to the future of this series. — Alan Perez, Editor-in-Chief
Border crisis, gov’t shutdown not solely Trump’s fault WESLEY SHIROLA
DAILY COLUMNIST
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered an address to the nation from the Oval Office. He stated that there is a “growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border” where many illegal immigrants have entered, and are entering, our country. Yet, in a column that ran Wednesday, Catherine Buchaniec makes the bold claim that, not only is this situation not a crisis, but that it doesn’t actually exist at all. She goes on to argue that Trump is the sole actor to blame for the ongoing U.S. government shutdown and that in the process he is holding the country hostage. I wish to address both of these issues in turn. Buchaniec’s statements on the southern border issue are far from the truth. Indeed, while apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol of people illegally crossing the southern border are at historic lows, there are still thousands upon thousands of such crossings every year. According to Buchaniec, however, the thousands of people that Trump described in his address as spilling into the country each day “do not exist.” How, then, does she account for the
roughly 400,000 of such cases reported by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2018 alone? Is the agency simply lying and fabricating these numbers? I don’t think so. Buchaniec’s proclamation that our southern border is not in a state of peril is simply unfounded — it is in a state of peril. In fact, the whole country is in a state of peril as a result. Among many of the issues at our southern border is its acting as a pipeline for a plethora of illegal drugs including methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. In his address, Trump duly informed the nation that “every week 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border.” These statistics are generally correct, according to Vox. Whether or not the border wall would actually stop or slow the crossing of illegal drugs is another issue altogether and has no bearing on acknowledging that there is still a legitimate crisis at our southern border. Still aren’t convinced? In the last year alone, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made nearly 160,000 arrests for immigration violations, most of which involved people with either criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. Trump correctly pointed this out in his address, yet Buchaniec doesn’t believe this constitutes a crisis. If the roughly 400,000 illegal crossings, the pipeline of drugs and the crimes committed by illegal immigrants crossing
our southern border aren’t enough to constitute a crisis, then what is? Buchaniec’s declaration that Trump is the only one to blame for the government shutdown is also not true. Buchaniec wrote that the government shutdown “is not an immigration debate” and “is not political discourse.” Rather, she tells us that “this is Trump firing up his base and dragging the country along for the ride.” I beg to differ. This is Trump doing what is best for the country. This is Trump trying to protect the American people. Calling for a barrier at the southern border is not a new matter, nor has it been something supported only by Trump and Republicans in the past. If it were, then why in 2006 did thenSenator Barack Obama enthusiastically support the passage of legislation providing for “better fences and better security along our borders?” Not only did he support this legislation, but he also directly oversaw the construction of over 100 miles of barrier along the southern border in 2009. Obama is not the only Democrat to have supported a border barrier in the past, however. President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have all done so as well. Democrats reversed their position only after Trump was elected president. Why, then, should Trump have to compromise with Democrats on an issue that some
of their top leaders used to ardently support? Buchaniec believes he should do so in order to “protect the country.” I’m pretty confident when I say that Trump does not wish for the government shutdown. But, at the same time, he shouldn’t be any more expected to compromise with Democrats than they should be expected to compromise with him. I’ll admit that it is time for the shutdown to end, but neither side looks ready to back down just yet. Buchaniec is right that it is time for Trump to “govern the democracy he was elected to lead.” In order for this to happen, however, Democrats will also have to step up to the plate, consider Trump’s position and have real negotiations. They are no more privileged to stand firm in their demands than President Trump. The shutdown is not solely Trump’s fault as Buchaniec claims. Instead, it is the result of strong-willed leaders on both sides of the aisle. I’m certain, however, that American democracy will lead us out of this conflict as it has always done for nearly 250 years. Wesley Shirola is a Weinberg sophomore. He can be contacted at wesleyshirola2021@u.northwestern. edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@ dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
The Daily Northwestern Volume 139, Issue 47 Editor in Chief Alan Perez
Opinion Editor Marissa Martinez
Managing Editors Maddie Burakoff Alex Schwartz Syd Stone
Assistant Opinion Editor Andrea Bian
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