Sensationalized: News media shouldn't have lumped together all UNC students in protest coverage

As a result of last week's Bingham Hall shenanigans the UNC student body has been portrayed in local state and national news media as a raging hoard of intolerant left-wing nut jobs.

While it's hard to fault anyone besides the few individuals whose actions prevented former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo R-Colo. from speaking on April 14 it seems appropriate to express disappointment in the media's coverage of the event.

For the most part the coverage has been unfair to the UNC student body in particular the students who showed up to protest Tancredo's speech in a civil manner.

Articles published in the Charlotte Observer and The (Raleigh) News & Observer failed to draw a distinction between the miscreant protestors and the rest of the UNC student body.

Some of the editorial commentary has been particularly frustrating.

Jack Betts an associate editor for the Charlotte Obserer wrote" ""the UNC-Chapel Hill campus appears to be intolerant of free speech.""

News & Observer columnist Barry Saunders took it one step further" writing" ""Ah"" youth. They don't realize that hate speech is far more odious when stifled than when expressed openly.""

To say that UNC students — or college students in general — are liable for the actions of a radical minority is a disingenuous and condescending assertion. At best" it's lazy journalism; at worst sensationalist.

These sweeping generalizations could not be further from the truth.

The UNC campus has overwhelmingly denounced the protestors who prevented Tancredo from speaking — from Chancellor Holden Thorp's e-mail to the UNC community to the many letters to the editor and more than 100 comments on The Daily Tar Heel's Web site.

And last Thursday's gathering in the Pit sought to reaffirm our community's commitment to free speech.

Asking the individuals responsible to come forward and apologize for their actions is probably a futile endeavor.

But it would be nice if the news media examined the situation more closely and stopped giving undue recognition to a roguish minority that in no way represents the opinions of the UNC community.