University of Virginia Library

Excellent, But...

Last Thursday evening I
was a moderator for a
broadcast interview with
student council members and
Mr. Fontana, the Director of
Food Services. I wish to clear
up several inaccurate
impressions that were left by
the story which appeared the
following day in The Cavalier
Daily.

Mr. Fontana did not, as the
story stated, say that recent
cutbacks in Food Services were
part of a program to "shake
students up." He was
misquoted and misrepresented:
Mr. Fontana made no such
statement.

His public attitude was one
of a man who, within the
constraints of a state law
forcing him to operate on a
no-loss basis, is trying to
provided a service to students.
While it may be proper to
question both his success and
his sincerity, it is by no means
proper to quote him as saying
things he never said.

As one who has been a part
of WTJU's news effort, I am of
course aware that it represents
no conscious effort on the part
of the CD to misrepresent Mr.
Fontana, and I don't want this
letter to be taken as criticism of
The Cavalier Daily's generally
excellent reporting work. But
we at WTJU frequently have
problems finding
administrators willing to speak
with students on-the-air, and
stories such as appeared Friday
morning makes matters worse.

The story, in mentioning
that the program was broadcast
over WTJU, also failed to
explain that the show was in
fact, broadcast over WTJU and
WUVA. It is a part of a regular
series of broadcasts the two
stations are doing in
co-operation with the Student
Council. Both WUVA and
WTJU are pleased at the fine
response the series has thus far
had, and we hope that we can
provide equally pertinent
programs in the future.