Every day, the editorial staff at the UK wonders: What are we writing about, why are we writing about it, and how are we writing about it? A weekly look behind the scenes.
Over the past week, several people have voiced their criticism on social media over the fact that the UK (or, to call a spade a spade, its editor-in-chief, i.e. me) will be joining a large RUG delegation to have a look around Yantai, China.
The faculties involved are going, managers are going, University Council members (student and personnel factions) are going. And yes, the UK is going, too. So is that wrong? To talk to other western universities that already have branch campuses in China?
Maybe it’ll be a fantastic trip. Maybe it’ll be awful. I don’t know. I won’t know until I’ve been there, talked to people, seen things.
The UK is not in the habit of responding to rumours on Facebook or Twitter. Just like any other journalistic medium, the UK sometimes engenders discussions: we’re either too critical, or too docile. We write too much about one topic or too little about another. We’re either great or we suck.
This week, I feel the need to break that habit, because of a tweet about our article last week concerning the delegation to Yantai.
Worried about the @UK_Groningen’s editor-in-chief’s independence? The overlap of ‘his’ #Yantai article with the RUG’s press release might give you cause.
I’ll readily admit: it wasn’t a Pulitzer Prize-winning article. But to say you are ‘worried’ about my ‘independence’? This was just a simple announcement to inform our readers of what’s happening at the university. It’s no different than the UK article announcing that Ben Feringa had won the Nobel Prize in December. And no one’s ever complained about that article, as far as I know.
Or how about this one:
Who’s paying for the @UK_Groningen’s editor-in-chief’s trip to Yantai? Not the RUG board I hope? We must have an independent press!
The question here (or rather, an insinuation with question marks) is understandable. And I would’ve loved to answer it had the person asking it addressed the editors. Then I would’ve been able to say that the UK is not embedded, that the UK will have complete freedom (and will use it) and that the UK is paying for this ‘trip’ itself.
Everybody’s talking about fake news these days. Maybe we should pay a little more attention to fake discussions. Because right now, it’s just too easy to do damage from behind a keyboard, even at the RUG.
Rob Siebelink, editor-in-chief