Members of the NIU community had the chance to voice their opinions and concerns about the Northern Star on Monday night at the Star Forum in the Multi-Purpose Room at Stevenson Towers North.

All were invited to engage in a question and answer session with a panel of 12 Star representatives which included editors and reporters. The audience began by responding to the Feb. 27 Star column, “U.S. should help end terror in India,” by Jenan Diab.

One issue the audience addressed was that Diab’s position of assistant news editor appeared with the editorial. Several audience members said it seemed like Diab’s opinion represented that of the Star because of the appearance of the title.

The panel emphasized that just because her title appears with the article does not mean the contents are representative of the opinion of the Star. Panel members also said all columns are written by Star employees, and their positions always appear after their names.

A major concern voiced by audience members was that no documentation was provided for statistical facts presented in the article. Diab told the audience that she researched the topic and had documentation with her from a New York Times article, as well as from several Web sites. She emphasized that the piece was editorial in nature.

In an extension of this argument, many in the crowd said Diab did not reveal the origin of the conflict or all the facts involved in her piece.

“It would’ve been nice if she had started the story from the beginning,” said Sravanth Poseddy, a computer science graduate student.

Several members of the audience mentioned the one-sidedness of the editorial. One audience member said it was Diab’s job as a reporter to collect facts before she offered her opinion, present the material from both sides of the issue and ultimately be neutral.

“We’re here to show both sides of the story; Jenan was one side,” said Barbara Bystryk, editor in chief of the Star. She added that the next day the Star allowed the other side to be told via the “Letters to the Editor” section.

The debate then turned to the Star’s style of news coverage with regard to race.

Of main concern was the way in which minorities were portrayed in crime-related stories. Several audience members cited a lack of coverage of incidents involving Caucasian perpetrators and an emphasis on those involving black perpetrators. Some audience members said stories with black perpetrators were found on the front page more often.

Managing Editor Nicholas Alajakis said he recently had looked at front pages of issues from fall 2000 to fall 2002 of the Star in an effort to address that very issue. He said he found that about 70 percent of the time, a perpetrator whose photo was on the front page in a crime story was Caucasian.

Alajakis said this number may have been skewed slightly because of added coverage of a hit and run story during that time. He invited any interested audience member to come to the Star newsroom and examine the newspapers.

Audience members cited, among other examples, coverage of two concerts as a prime instance of unfair treatment. They said the article previewing black artist Ja Rule was focused on increased security, whereas another article previewing the concert of Caucasian band Styx focused on the band’s performance.

“There’s a way to be fair about things and a way to be unfair, and the Northern Star has succeeded in being completely unfair to minorities on this campus,” said Alexis Westbrook, a finance major.

“We make a conscious effort every single day and try and improve. Granted, we screw up sometimes, but there’s always room for improvement,” Bystryk said when asked what steps the Star is taking to remedy the situation. She said that input and continuing dialog will aid in efforts to improve coverage.

No date has been set for the next forum, but another will take place this semester.