Readers upset with Taylor obituary article

In the past three weeks, I’ve received letters from students who were upset when the Talon published the cause of Dr. Brian Taylor’s death.

Those students believed the Talon should not publish the cause of death if the details might emotionally hurt family members.

The following is an excerpt from a response I sent to those e-mails:

The Talon is keeping consistent with a long-standing tradition of being one of the most open and honest college newspapers in the state. We have never hid any information from the public, and when a question of ethics arises, we review all of the pros and cons.

Printing things like this is never an easy decision, but let me explain our thought process.

When Dr. Shenefelt died last year, we reported on it. When our own staffer, Will McDonald died of a drug overdose, we reported the cause.

No one on staff likes to write these articles and we would love it if we only reported on "good" news. However, we’re a newspaper of record, not a public relations firm for the University.

We report the truth – and sometimes that truth isn’t fun.

As journalists, I believe we have a job to inform the student body, even if the details aren’t pretty.

The report, which detailed his death, was given to us by the Smith County Sheriff’s Department. We do our best to be fair, truthful and accurate.

My hope is maybe in the future, people will understand the factors that lead to suicide and take better care of their fellow human beings.

Suicide is never the answer to any problem or difficulty in life, but hiding suicides from the public only sweeps the problem under the rug.

When people read the article I hope they ask themselves who around them might be susceptible to suicide, which one of their friends are depressed, and how they might be able to console or prevent another senseless death.

Again – hiding the problem is the exact opposite of what needs to be done.

The same was true when we reported on the death of our good friend and colleague Will McDonald.

We didn’t print it to embarrass his friends or family – we printed it because we hope our readers will be able to understand that life is not only roses and rainbows, and we owe it to our friends and their parents to look out for them.

By Allen Arrick Editor in Chief