Dear Readers, 

When attempting to be well-educated members of the world, students are often faced with biased sources and misinformation. Specifically around campus, students have made claims about the legitimacy of Hill News and whether or not we are a biased source. As Co-Editor-in-Chief, I oversee our opinion section, run by Opinion Editor Raina Shah.  

Since students who aren’t involved with how we edit or run our opinion section have tried to spread false claims about how we manage our section and for the sake of full transparency, I would like to explain our thought process behind the opinion section. Every issue of The Hill News starts the same way: with a budget of what articles we will write. Section editors are asked to suggest some articles based upon events of the school and world, but also allow space for writers to have “pitches” or suggested articles. Writers are chosen based upon their volunteering for articles or by Shah communicating with members of our staff who have yet to sign up for an article. In each issue we attempt to cover topics from healthcare to satire, creating a well-rounded section. 

When we interact with the politically affiliated clubs on campus, we work to give equal opportunity to club leaders. Shah communicates with presidents and leaders from the Young Republicans Club, Young Democrats Club, and the Young Democratic Socialists of America. GRAY is in its own section, as they are not affiliated with one political party so they were not asked for a Presidential Endorsement. The Hill News, officially or unofficially, does not endorse any political club or attempt to showcase any one club over the other.  

Specifically for our coverage of election night, Shah had plans to equally interact with each club. “I have a groupchat with Gavin Guerette, Will Dollhopf, and Will Thompson to make sure that I remain consistent with my wording and what I am asking of them. All three leaders have been eager to help and represent their club while maintaining a friendly and professional relationship,” Shah said. 

Last week, a member of The Hill News editorial staff was made aware that students in the Young Republicans Club email chain believed that Hill News was conspiring with the YDSA. After speaking with the Club President and sender of the email William Thompson, we cleared up that this was satirical and meant as a joke to the club in response to discussions of having a club debate led by the Hill News. 

In speaking with William Thompson, he said, “The YRC holds no prejudice against The Hill Hews or any of their publications and any allegations that are being currently thrown around are from a joking manner.” 

The Hill News holds our journalistic integrity high and actively works to keep news reporting apolitical and keep opinion content equal among differing political parties. We believe that unbiased news reporting is of the utmost importance and that it is inappropriate to accuse a news source of biased reporting, even if the intentions were satirical. Just because we are a high school community and newspaper does not mean we should not hold ourselves to the standards of the real world, where using the legitimacy of a news source would not be an appropriate joke.

Thank you, 

Tess McArdle