I think this is a perfect opportunity to use the blog as it was intended: to explain to readers why we made a certain decision. The decision to report about Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock’s second child has been a bone of contention at 2140 G Street for a while. As many around campus know, rumors have been floating about this issue for sometime now. Reporters and editors at The Hatchet were approached about this on several occasions and we’ve known about the pregnancy for a while. Here’s the scenario that we spoke about: If Faith Peters broke her knee and was out for the same period of time, would we put it in the paper and give it the play the pregnancy would’ve gotten? Probably not. Newspapers like “sexy” stories. A “sexy” story is something that appeals to the readers. Something that is a little more interesting than breaking a knee or twisting an ankle. A star men’s player impregnating a female player is a hell of a story. We sat on it for a few reasons. When we found out, printing it would have been digging into a player’s personal life and we asked ourselves “would this story be pertinent if it weren’t so sexy?” If they had a child together and nothing changed—meaning J.R. and Faith stayed in school—should the paper report on it? Some argued yes and some argued no. Collectively, a few months ago when we heard, we decided if J.R. were to leave GW because of the child, we’d have to report on it. At that point it would become news. Even further, even if we wanted to print it when we found out from sources that it was true, we would’ve had to get J.R. and/or Faith to confirm it. I have a feeling that it may have been tougher. Now, Pinnock did tell Andrew Alberg (our new men’s beat writer) that it is a fact. When one decides to put themselves in the public eye, they are open to their closets being cleaned out by journalists. There is no question about that. I’ve heard from both sides of the aisle on this and I’m interested to hear more views. Please post on the blog in our comments section and feel free to email me at [email protected] to let me know what you feel. Transparency is the key to good journalism, which I believe we practiced in this instance.