Less than 24 hours after the video “Macalester Reflects on the Super Bowl that Never Was…Yet” went online, it disappeared from The Mac Weekly’s website. Almost immediately, we began receiving questions asking where the video, which had gotten a lot of buzz in the few hours it was up, had gone. As this semester’s editors-in-chief, we were the ones who made the decision to take the video down, and we wanted to explain why.

Before we publish each issue of the Mac Weekly, the content undergoes a multi-stage editing process; first by section staff, then by managing editors, and finally by the editors-in-chief.
Since video is a new medium for us, we had not yet established a protocol for editing; because of that, a staff member posted the video before we reviewed it. If we had had a chance to watch it first, we would have caught the issues we had with it before it went online.

While the video was a funny concept, we felt that it unfairly targeted segments of the Macalester population that it labeled “clueless” about professional sports. The questions were clearly intended to make them trip up, and when students did not fall for the prank, they were pushed to say things that might embarrass them.

Knowing the creators of the video personally, we realize that they meant no harm, and they were very gracious about our concerns when we contacted them after the fact. We have completely resolved it with them, as well as the staff member who posted the video, and do not mean this op-ed as a public shaming of any of them. We just thought it was only fair to let our readers know why we did not want it to be on The Mac Weekly’s website (although it remains on YouTube).

We are actually very excited about incorporating videos into TMW each week, and are planning to work with the “Super Bowl” filmmakers again in the future. We welcome anyone who has an idea for a video, who would like suggestions from one of our staff members about videos they might make for TMW, or who has any remaining questions or concerns to contact us at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Sophie Nikitas and Anna Pickrell
Editors-in-Chief Spring 2014