We noticed a peculiar thing Tuesday morning — many of the of newspaper racks around campus that would normally have copies of The Daily Gamecock were empty.
Later we discovered there was an effort to get rid of that day's newspaper on campus by removing them from news racks. We are obviously angry and disappointed.
The few seconds it took to steal copies and throw them away or haul them off to prevent others from reading them negated the hours of work that our staff collectively put into producing that day’s paper. A lot of effort goes into our papers, but that effort is only worth it if people have a chance to read them.
Our paper is free to students in large part due to money that comes in through advertising. When advertisers buy an ad, they expect the papers will be available. We want to be able to give them that assurance.
While the paper is free to students, it is certainly not free to produce. There are significant printing costs, and that money is wasted if students don’t have a chance to read the finished product. Also, those who distribute the paper to the racks don’t deserve to have their hard work devalued by a newspaper bandit.
We know we aren’t always the most popular publication on campus. Part of being a newspaper is understanding that not everyone can be pleased all the time. But there’s a better way to show your disagreement than stealing our newspapers: write a letter to the editor so everyone knows how you really feel.
Although this hurts us in a number of ways, one of the worst parts of this is the effect on you, the reader. The opportunity to inform the student body is what we work for. Not only were we robbed of our papers — you were robbed of your right to know the news.