ABBIE MILLER
Editor-in-Chief
ABIGAIL JACOBSON
News Editor
Being able to take criticism is at the core of what it means to be a journalist.
We take concerns and criticisms into account and then work to better ourselves and our pieces in the future.
It seems as though mayor of Fredonia Michael Ferguson had some critiques of his own regarding two recent Leader articles.
Or perhaps what he really wanted to speak about was the Dunkirk Observer’s April 14 piece, which summarized the Leader articles.
During the Board of Trustees meeting on April 14, Ferguson held up a copy of the Dunkirk Observer. This print of the Observer included an article that summarized a news article written by the two of us, as well as an opinion article written by Dan Quagliana.
Our original Leader article centered around the popular topic of FredFest — more specifically, whether or not there would be one this year. The contents of The Leader’s piece further covered whether students would be interested in attending a school-sanctioned alternative to FredFest, or if an alternative would deter FredFest from happening altogether.
A poll included in the Leader article showed mixed results. Some students stated that they would not be attending any school-sanctioned version of FredFest, regardless of what activities came with it. Others seemed excited by the return of a FredFest alternative as an on-campus event, with several pointing to the escalating violence in FredFests of recent years as reasoning to give the event back to the school.
Mayor Ferguson seemed to have his own opinions — both about the article and FredFest itself.
According to Ferguson, the article provided no ideas for an alternative FredFest event. This is true of the Observer’s article, but not of the original Leader source itself.
One of the main reasons we decided to create and share a FredFest-related poll was in order to see if any of the alternatives proposed would interest the student body. The poll’s results, including the question about which activities would encourage students to attend the alternative school-sanctioned event, were explained in detail throughout the Leader article.
This portion of the original piece seemed to be missing from the Observer’s article.
Furthermore, as students, we are under no obligation to provide the mayor of Fredonia with suggestions as to how or whether FredFest or an alternative event in place of it should be held. As members of SUNY Fredonia’s student-run newspaper, we are also under no obligation to provide these suggestions. And as journalists, we do not include our opinions in news articles.
When it comes to being a part of The Leader, we were expected to include these suggestions throughout our article on the future, or lack thereof, of FredFest — an expectation that we delivered upon while not necessarily being obligated to.
Since the original article was not an opinion piece, we followed the journalism code of ethics by not providing our own opinions and instead letting the students who answered the poll have their voices heard regarding a FredFest alternative.
Mayor Ferguson additionally claims that the article is a “he said/she said” piece about the nature of FredFest and the possibility of alternatives.
Our issues with this statement are twofold.
Firstly, we find it unprofessional and inappropriate to state that something written by a public outlet such as The Leader, by freely speaking college students, should be referred to as “he said/she said.”
When examining the context within which this phrase is typically used, there is a history of survivors of sexual violence fighting for the right to receive justice. Both articles have college students as their central topic and audience — a population where the rate of sexual violence is among its highest.
To repeat this phrase in any setting, but especially regarding an article about and by college students, is highly inappropriate.
Furthermore, this statement itself is also inaccurate.
The Leader’s original article included a multitude of quotes from Mayor Ferguson directly in order to tell his perspective.
The other quotes that were used were taken from a variety of responses to the poll that was sent out prior to the article’s release.
The article combines these approaches to present a nuanced view of an event that, while a staple of Fredonia’s history, has resulted in some unintended and harmful consequences. Our piece showcases both sides of the debate by featuring a wide array of quotes from both the mayor himself and SUNY Fredonia students.
We believe that a substantial portion of the argument that Mayor Ferguson makes against the original Leader article is faulty due in part to his ignorance of this primary source and in part to the Dunkirk Observer’s weak journalistic practice.
The original Leader articles had been published for over a month at the time of the village hall meeting. During the meeting, instead of holding up a physical copy of The Leader, within which would lie the articles Ferguson was referencing, he instead held the summarized version of the pieces from the Dunkirk Observer, a completely different newspaper.
The Observer’s April 14 article did not provide all of the essential information that was included in The Leader’s original articles concerning arguments for and against FredFest and suggestions for an alternative event. As such, the Observer simply took what they believed were the most important parts of the article and decided that was the story. As is evident here, the information that was left out is just as important.
While the articles and its authors are referenced, the absence of any additional information regarding the circumstances surrounding the original articles and the topics discussed within them makes for an exploitative attempt at receiving attention.
It is quite disappointing that those who are employed by the Observer used material gathered from unpaid college students in order to piece together an article that lacks substance apart from that which was featured in ours and Quagliana’s original articles.
As writers at The Leader, we each worked tirelessly to write and publish the original pieces, which required extensive research and hours of effort without compensation. The employee at the Observer who published the article, as well as each and every person who cleared the article, were paid to mention work that was never theirs.
In the journalism industry, your voice is everything.
Your style of writing and the way that you conduct interviews are something that journalists spend their entire career growing and perfecting.
To have a larger and more renowned publication with paid employees take the work of a college campus newspaper run by volunteering students with little modification whatsoever is more than just bad reporting.
To the individuals at the Dunkirk Observer who wrote and agreed with the article’s publication, we implore you to examine your personal outlook on journalism ethics and to modify the ways in which your organization is clearly falling short of common journalistic standards.
To Mayor Ferguson, we ask you to please dig deeper to gain the truth of a situation before slandering the name of SUNY Fredonia’s one and only student-run newspaper. Not only is it a disservice to The Leader, us and Quagliana, who wrote these articles, but it is also a disservice to the community members who may not have the time or interest to research the original article and dissect it with a clear head following such a scathing critique.
As a journalistic publication, The Leader always has and always will receive disapproval for some of the articles we publish and some of the content we cover.
But there is a place for criticism. There is no place for misinformation.
Mayor Ferguson’s denunciation of The Leader’s March 4 article is an example of the latter.
A subsequent piece was published by the Dunkirk Observer on April 24. This article, titled “FREDONIA: Is this the time to worry about Non Fred Fest?”, is a part of the Observer’s opinion section.
Since the piece does not feature a specific author and does not specify whether it is the belief of a certain individual or the outlet as a whole, we will henceforth refer to the article as though it is a representation of the Dunkirk Observer’s overall opinion as an organization.
In this opinion article, the news outlet questions the focus of the aforementioned articles written by us and Quagliana regarding this year’s FredFest and boil water orders, respectively.
At the beginning of this April 24 piece, the Observer mentions holding sympathy for the tough position that Mayor Ferguson must have been in as a consequence of The Leader’s articles.
The Observer also mentions that, where it concerns Quagliana’s opinion piece about Fredonia’s water, “The exercise is a good lesson for the Leader editorial writer” on how to take criticism from both the Mayor and others. According to the Observer, “As writers of editorials, we get plenty of feedback from those who think some of the pieces we write are off base. Editorial writers have to take the criticism if we’re going to dish criticism out.”
This statement from the Observer is notable for multiple reasons.
With this argument, it would appear as though the authors of the Observer’s articles are open to receiving criticism and have an understanding that it is part of the journalism industry to receive such critique.
But if they are aware of the likelihood that some of their articles will spark a response, and if they have a history of receiving such responses in the past, then why is it that the authors of their articles do not always include their names in the copies published online? Reporters that are truly proud of what they write and are willing to stand their ground even in the midst of negative feedback are comfortable taking personal responsibility, which is why they include their attribution.
It is also a part of common journalistic practice, along with ensuring that information is represented accurately, to include such attributions for every statement that is said. Without such acknowledgement, there is no way for readers to hold these writers accountable for the arguments they make or to check their credibility within other stories they have published.
Furthermore, stating that the receipt of criticism is a “good lesson for the Leader editorial writer” holds several implications.
The claim makes it seem as though Quagliana has never received criticism for an article he has written before. As such, this would make a reader infer that, since criticism is so often received in the journalism industry as the Observer states immediately thereafter, Quagliana has not written many articles in his time at The Leader.
This is completely false.
Almost every member of The Leader’s executive staff has authored at least one article, including individuals whose job has nothing to do with writing. As a member of The Leader’s upper management team, Quagliana would not have gotten to where he is today if he had not authored many articles, including pieces that are significant in nature.
The wording of this claim is important because it shows that the Observer is willing to make condescending comments towards The Leader and disguise them as if they were pieces of advice or criticism.
In the April 24 editorial, the Observer then ponders, “In all honesty, do the thoughts of SUNY Fredonia students matter much given the village’s current budget situation?”
To insinuate that student opinion lacks significance is an action The Leader frowns upon and disagrees with greatly, in any context. In the current situation, the meaning of this argument is even more disrespectful. Referring to the authors of the original articles, us and Quagliana, before openly wondering whether students’ opinions hold any significance at all directly afterwards, is not only incredibly insulting to those students specifically, but damaging to the campus community as a whole.
Amid all of the added work and late nights and stressful deadlines, we have remained a part of The Leader because what we are doing here is making a difference for ourselves, for the other members of The Leader, and for the campus and its surrounding community. The articles that we publish are encouraging changes to be made, giving students an outlet for their voices to be heard and educating community members on things that are happening around campus. The Leader is a vehicle for free speech, representation and education.
As a fellow news outlet, the value of these ideas should have been a shared sentiment for the Observer.
This idea that students’ voices do not matter is repeated later in the article, when the Observer states, “Who cares what some SUNY Fredonia students say?”
From a news outlet that advertises itself with the tagline “because every voice matters,” this is telling in a number of ways.
To praise your own journalistic organization at the expense of tearing down another is, in our opinion, shameful.
Often, competition can be an impediment to meaningful change. But to channel this ideology amid issues such as continuous boil water orders and, as mentioned in the Observer’s article, tax increases, is both hypocritical and morally reprehensible.
The Observer attributes a “lack of focus” to be one of the causes of the “budget mess” occurring within either the village of Fredonia or SUNY Fredonia. Whether this “budget mess” refers to the former or the latter is never specified.
What is made apparent, though, is the implication that the Observer means to place upon the writers of the Leader articles as the cause of these budgetary issues.
If the Observer means to refer to the problems plaguing the village of Fredonia’s budget, then this would be quite inaccurate. As a college town, Fredonia reaps the economic benefits of having a constantly flowing stream of new customers by way of the students who attend its SUNY institution nearby. These individuals, many of whom are indeed tax-paying citizens living within the surrounding community, are giving their money to the village’s bars, restaurants, landlords, stores and government.
If there was any party to blame the supposed downturn of Fredonia’s economy on, it surely would not be the students attending the college within it.
If the Observer instead means to refer to the budgetary deficit looming over SUNY Fredonia itself, this accusation would also be misguided. The students of SUNY Fredonia have done much to ensure that the budget of the institution remains afloat and that the deficit that we currently face lessens. Some efforts include paying for a higher cost of attendance, which translates into inflated meal plan prices, housing costs and tuition fees. SUNY Fredonia inhabitants pay rates to attend the university that are substantially higher than prior generations of college students, partially as a response to the budgetary issues that face its current administration.
If any group is at fault for SUNY Fredonia’s financial ailments, it is not students in this case, either.
From what the Observer published, the organization seems to hold the view that although SUNY Fredonia students help the economy of both the village of Fredonia and SUNY Fredonia itself, their opinions and voices simply do not matter.
Perhaps the Observer is channeling the lack of focus they insinuate of The Leader by choosing to criticize its writers, whose voices they claim do not matter anyway, instead of publishing more exclusively about the tax increase and budgetary problems.
SOURCES:
https://www.observertoday.com/news/top-stories/2025/04/suny-students-wary-over-fred-fest-water