The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

Mac Weekly: propaganda machine?

By Mike Allen

It’s fair to argue that the Opinion section can feature some mud-slinging, but is a newspaper truly unbiased if that same point of view earns a space on the Opinion page three times in a row—without any responses published? For the last three issues, The Mac Weekly has published a single editorial on the upcoming election. All three editorials put Democratic candidates on a pedestal, all three mudsling, all three tell us explicitly how to vote, and all three are by the same person—Molly Griffard, Co-Chair of Mac Dems. Repeating the same message over and over with no challenges is propaganda—it gives the vibe that there’s one party in St. Paul, and we had better vote for them or else something bad will happen. For the past three weeks The Mac Weekly staff has served as a messenger for a clear party loyalist, not for the opinions of the public. This cannot stand. How are we supposed to know about the candidates if our news source has an Opinion page that keeps spewing the same thoughts from the Democratic Party?

The Opinion page hasn’t been the only source of propaganda however. This year, articles pertaining to the election (excluding the Opinion page) have focused on almost exclusively Democrats. Two have focused on non-Democratic themes. One of the articles touches on the 2008 Republican National Convention taking place in the Twin Cities. Such an article is more of a factual statement, rather than educational one. So, we are left with one article in five issues that deals with a candidate who is not a Democrat: Jesse Mortensen. It seems The Mac Weekly thinks that Jesse Mortensen is only worth mentioning because he has ties to Macalester. Again I ask: how is it expected that the student body will make good decisions when all we hear about are Democrats?

Parties also aren’t the only players here. What about the sheriff’s race?
Or the transportation amendment on the ballot this November? Am I missing these in the paper? By only focusing on the Congressional and Senate races the Mac Weekly has allowed itself to be hijacked by Mac Dems. Before allowing the Democratic powerhouse on campus to swoop in, the paper should have published a voter’s guide.

The Mac Weekly should be ashamed of itself. Each candidate should have to earn our votes. People should vote with education behind themselves. Why should we blindly follow a party that has its own agenda in mind? Hit up Google, because The Mac Weekly isn’t doing its job of educating us to make good decisions in November. There are more than just Democrats in St. Paul, and it’s OK to vote for them.

It’s YOUR vote.

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