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Show Page 3 Friday, September 15, 2006 Editorial The Signpost Signpost Viewpoint The Signpost welcomes letters As editor in chief of The Signpost, I welcome any, and all, letters to the editor. A letter to the editor is an opportunity for the community to share ideas and opinions. The Signpost holds as a practice that we, as a staff, will not get into debate with people who submit letters to The Signpost. However, recently. The Signpost Business and Technology reporter Nicholas Dragon published an article comparing the price of a math book between Beat the Bookstore, located on Harrison Boulevard, and the VVSU Bookstore, located in the Shepherd Union Building. Dragon spoke with both parties and checked facts before printing the article. In today's letter to the editor, an attack has been made on Dragon's journalistic behavior. The letter states Dragon skewed tacts to favor the WSU Bookstore, and claims mistakes that Dragon made in his story. This claim is untrue. As editor in chief. 1 stand behind Dragon in his reporting of the story "Bookstore Beats Beat The Bookstore," which appeared in the Wednesday. August 30, 2006 issue of The Signpost and can be read online at wsusignpost.com. I personally investigated all the facts Dragon presented in his story and that Beat the Bookstore disputes. I listened to Dragon's interviews which he recorded on a digital player, I read over Dragon's notes and I verified information with the management and employees of the WSU Bookstore. Each claim Dragon made is supported by verifiable facts and quotes, including quotes by Dave Winward. When Dragon asked if a student could "get all of their text books from Beat the Bookstore," Winward replied "No. No." With the exception of specialized books that professors may have printed at copy centers for students to pick up, and those books professors don't tell the WSU Bookstore about, students can usually get every text book they need for their classes from the WSU Bookstore. Some students were able to purchase some of the books from The Bookstore Winward claims were unavailable for purchase. If a reporter gets a fact wrong or states something wrong, The Signpost will run a retraction and print the correct information about the facts. In this situation, there were no false or skewed facts. By getting letters to the editor printed, readers can learn more about news, topics and events that can help them make better decisions. Beat the Bookstore is welcome to dispute Dragon's story in a letter to the editor, but I support Dragon, having extensively investigated his story and the facts he presented. Students can decide for themselves. Excellent reporting, Nick. - David Fairchild, editor in chief Round Four: on getting ready.... The anchor next door How do you feel about persona] prep-time? How much is enough? How much is too much?Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? Two-and-ahalf hours? As appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Friday, September 8 By Cynthia Loveland managing editor | The Signpost The new face of the "CBS Evening News" is a perky blond with a dazzling smile. In her debut last week as anchor of the show, Katie Couric wore a stylish white jacket over a little black dress. OK, we got that out of the way. On her second day, Couric conducted a solid, informativeinterviewwith President Bush. And on her third day, the show had an interview with Richard Armitage, who said he "screwed up" when he revealed that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. So let's agree that the debates about her attire and hair and that silly business about the retouched publicity photo are over. Couric's new job has received more than the usual attention because she is the first woman hired to be the solo anchor on a network evening newscast. But the locals have been way ahead on that front. According to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, 57 percent of the anchors in a recent nationwide survey were women. CBS needed Couric more than she needed the job. Some 25 million people still watch the three network news shows, but the audience has been falling and CBS trails its rivals at NBC and ABC. Couric has promised a new evening news, a show that de-emphasizes headlines and does more in-depth stories - The -^ A which is probably a good idon, ^i\en that by the time many viewers get to her show, they have already read a morning paper, flipped on CNN, checked several Internet news sites, listened to the radio while in the car and received three e-mail breaking news alerts. Couric's challenge, "to make the evening news a go-to place again," as she put it, is daunting. CBS would like to attract new viewers, especially younger viewers. One way to do that is to steal audience away from its rivals (which Couric appears to have done, at least temporarily). Another is to make the news friendlier, more relevant, more interactive, more entertaining. The greatest challenge, after CBS' controversies with Dan Rather, may be to convince viewers that it will deliver a national newscast that doesn't have a subtle partisan bent. On her first night, Couric was introduced by the venerable Walter Cronkite. Perhaps CBS felt the need for a sense of continuity or sense of gravitas. The feeling here is that that was unnecessary. (And maybe pointless to many viewers. Cronkiic retired a quarter-century ago.) Couric worked as a beat reporter. She has interviewed world leaders. She's smart and calm enough to deliver the news. She happens to look like the girl, make that anchor, next door. Weber State University vveuer aiaie university Signpost Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Copy Editor Lifestyles Editor Entertainment Editor Business Editor Photo Editor Graphics Editor Online/Graphics Editor Advertising Manager Office Manager Adviser Distribution Publisher Signpost Fax David Fairchild Cynthia Loveland Maria Villasenor Jon McBride Jason Sherman Andrea Bean Molly Bennett Brooke Robison Tricia Gerrard Brady Leaver Matthew Evans Shelley Hart Georgia Edwards Allison Hess Lindsey Hall Dr. Randy Scott 626-7121 626-7614 626-7655 626-7983 626-7659 626-7621 626-7105 626-7624 626-6358 626-7661 626-6358 626-6359 626-7974 626-7499 626-7974 626-6464 626-7401 The Signpost Is published every Monday. Wednesday, and Friday during the semester. Subscription is $15 a semester. The first copy of The Signpost Is free, each additional copy is $.50. - The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University students Student fees partially fund the printing of this publication. Opinions or positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. • The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must include name, address, telephone number and the writer's signature. Anonymous letters will not be printed. • The Signpost reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right to refuse to print any letter. Letters should not exceed 350 words. Bring letters to the editorial office in room 69 in the Stewart Library, mail to: The Signpost, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408-2110. I don't know how long it takes guys to get ready for their dates. I've always assumed the bulk of them just throw on some deodorant and cologne and make sure they got most of the spaghetti sauce off their pants. I 've had dales open their car door for me, then shove me out of the way, with apologies, so they could clear the magazines, papers, loose change and mismatched shoes off the passenger seat. They knew they were picking me up for a date, and didn't take time to make room for me beforehand, which leads me to believe they don't spend a lot of time prepping for the date. 1 feel fortunate if they know where we're going before we back out of my driveway-1 Ve had a couple of guys just come over and hang out at my house until 1 told them to go home. Some guys do take more time to prep, even going so far as to tweeze their eyebrows, iron their shin and shower, but I don't usually end up dating these guys for some reason. They must be dating the girls who take twoand-a-half hours to get ready to go to the grocery store. It's not that I don't want to look nice for my date, it's simply that I feel after two or three dates, I want to be recognizable still as the same girl they went on that first date with. I do spend a little time getting ready - probably not as much as some women, but a little. I freshen up, basically... put a few new curls in my hair, make sure my clothes are clean - maybe change into a nicer outfit than the one I've been wearing all By David Fairchild editor in chief | The Signpost way too much time looking at herself in the mirror. I admit, she looked really nice, and I complimented her and she of lightly said "whatever." s praye d We went to the Olive Garden perfume. and she was distracted by my I have cowlick and her lipgloss. never made It was uncomfortable, and date wait because eventually I took her home and I wasn't ready, then the next day I learned that though. I prioritize she was having her hair done in my list of "Things New Mexico orsome far off place Really Wan t to Do and 1figuredshe was just getting to Make Myself ready for her next date. lxiok Nicer" and I had wasted 20 minutes start with the most getting ready for a girl who pressing, like hair. couldn't get ready for me and That way, when then paid attention to herself the my time runs out, entire date. The next time I had a the minor details date, I prepared. are the only things I took Petruchio's approach. 1 that get skipped - didn't shave and I hid my cowlick my toenails don't with a baseball cap. I threw on get French-tipped some Speedstick, sniffed my or the shimmer^' lotion date. shirt and ran out die door eating doesn't get applied. Her dad opened the door and tic tacs. I really wasn't out to But 1 have a few standard said, "There's the couch. She'll be impress her. "musts": my hair must look like down when shefiguresout where I got to her house and her dad it happened on purpose, my her face is." And lie left me. gave her a quarter to call him My date's sisters name was fingernails must be clean. I must in case of an emergency and Lucy. She liked to drive her smell appealing and my clothes neither parent bothered with my must look like I haven't slept in little red car into my shins and criminal past. giggled with one of those freaky them. She was ready when I got gum-and-tooih smiles that only All of that takes about 30 there. It was clear she wasn't out freaky children at diat age have. minutes. I laughed with her, because she to impress me either because she After that, I just start changing looked so stupid, I couldn't help also hadn't shaved. We went out clothes until I end up with it. After 10 minutes of this, my on one of the best dates I'd had the same tiling I was wearing date yelled out, "Sorry, David, just and went on a few after that. originally, check myself out one sit on the couch. I'll be down." Maybe it's not that men more time in the mirror and wait don't care to get ready for a I was already on the couch 20 minutes because he is late for and bleeding. date, maybe we've just spent so some reason. I ler mother came in and much time waiting for you we've Why are they always late? asked me about where I was learned getting ready is a waste of time and doesn't make the How long does it take to put from and the people I'd killed. on deodorant? Forty minutes later, after date any better. my cowlick popped up and my You can n\u h reporter Cynthia Whitewater stopped working, You can reach reporter David Loveland by calling 626-7614 we left the house and she spent Fairchild by calling 626-7 / 21 day - reapply my makeup and pirouette into a mist Shakespeare's "Taming Shrew," Kate dresses up for her wedding and her fiancee, P e t r u c h i o, shows in tattered domes, tiedtogetherand an embarrassing mess. spent time getting ready for a date; I threw some Whitewater on, and put on nice clothes. I wet a comb and forced a cowlick down. It took 20 minutes; then I picked up my Letter to the editor Beat the Bookstore unfairly reported When reported that they would we read ^ -* N i c k give you $45.35. That is how Dragon's a r t i c l e much they pay for the new comparing the campus edition. Of course BTB pays bookstore and Beat the more for than that for the Bookstore by Smiths on new edition book, but we Harrison, we were shocked. were shown a different book. We could not believe how So BTB did beat the campus he skewed the facts to favor store by $35. Second, the the campus bookstore. Here campus store ran out of used are a few mistakes he made. copies of that book a couple First, the math book he days into the semester. So showed beat the bookstore you can buy a new one there and asked how much we for $90.70 or a used one from paid to buy it back is an old BTB for S65.30 saving you edition for math 1010. The $25.40. One more for BTB campus store would not buy for a total of $65.40 and that that book back at all because is on one book. 1 think that it is an old edition, yet he most students would go to another store if they could save $65 on one book. The article also said that "there are many empty shelves" at BTB. Well maybe we should move to a smaller location so students are jammed in and the shelves would look full. The next stalcmt'iii we take offense to, "nearK impossible to find all of tin- hooks they need for a semester." When Mr. Dragon asked if we would have all of a student's books, we told him that we usually wouldn't. But if we have two or three out of your four books, and they are used not new, you are saving a lot. We never claimed that we would have all of your books, although sometimes we do. The campus store, however, should have all of your books. But how many of you students have went to the campus store this semester and found that they didn't have your book in yet or were already out of it? Math 1050 students are paying $130 for their new book and getting a "preview edition" until the new edition gets in. We have had raany students come buy see Letter pageiC |