Internet Coverage Is Sensationalist

The Crimson's recent coverage of the Internet and other technology issues seems to demonstrate a desire to exploit and sensationalize rather than to report and analyze.

In the article on Internet porn, the reporter does not provide any evidence that Internet pornography is indeed on the rise. And rather than focus on the facts of the case (For instance, was the pornography "illegal pornography?" Why were the Office of Information Technology repair people examining a student's personal files in the first place? Are there no sections in the Handbook for Students or any other University guidelines which outline pertinent rules?) and the implications of a violation of a student's civil liberties, the reporter decides to make false inferences using unreliable sources.

The editorializing, unfit for a news article, was also disappointing. Lines such as, "In fact, the College has made it easier for students to get the computer porn," as a way to describe Harvard's recent installation of the campus-wide network is like describing Out of Town News, a local newsstand which sells Playboy and the like, as a commercial effort to bring pornography on campus.

I hope The Crimson does not continue to sensationalize and mislead for the sake of journalism. --Eugene E. Kim, '96   President, Harvard Computer Society