Watch out! The Justice is out to get you! It would like nothing more than to make each and everyone of you look bad. Its goal is to constantly get facts wrong, slander you in every possible way and misrepresent everything that happens on campus. Our mission is to be as offensive as possible. In fact, news reporters are instructed to only portray one side of each story and to openly express their views while writing their stories - making their opinions vivid in everything they write. The writers deliberately attempt, although not always successfully, to misquote their sources, mix up their facts and lie to the Brandeis community (in the most Fair and Balanced way possible of course!)

Our bias doesn't stop with our writers. The editorial board is actively placing self-interest ahead of journalistic principals. If there is a cause that the Justice supports, the articles are purposely edited to reflect that view. If there are no hot news stories for the week, the Justice invents scandals, sees villains where none exist and makes good people look bad and smart people sound dumb. It sincerely hopes to accomplish those goals, each and every issue. And justInCase you have been unaffected by this, don't worry, we will target you next!

To this effect, justRecently, the board even voted to no longer hide its not-so-secret agenda and to change the name of the news section to justPropaganda and the forum section to justShutUp. (We are also phasing in our new letter to the editor writing policy as some of you have noticed justGetLost).

If you really think any of that is true, than not only are you more paranoid than Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft put together, but you are also very wrong.

In the newspaper business it is a given that someone will always be unhappy with the coverage. No matter how hard the paper works at maintaining neutrality, keeping bias out of articles, double-checking its information, verifying quotes, getting all sides of the story and editing its articles, there will always be people who are upset.

During my term as News Editor (which by the way ends with this issue), it has become evident that most of the complaints can be grouped into relatively few categories.

The biggest criticism that people have is that the Justice gets facts wrong or just shouldn't have written the article based on the information provided. However, most of the time, the people complaining are the ones at fault. A recent example is a group's leader telling its members not to talk to the Justice in an effort to squelch an article. What ended up happening was the Justice published the article with only one side of the story making the silent group appear unfavorably. They were not very pleased and complained that we shouldn't have printed without their side of the story-yet maintaining that they still won't provide it. Here is a quick rule of thumb: Not giving us information usually doesn't help making a story more accurate or favorable toward you.

The second most prevalent complaint is that the Justice is biased. Most people who say this, though, are usually upset because the Justice included the opinion of not just their side but of the opposition as well. My e-mail is often clogged up with people asking how I could let someone give his opinion in a particular news article. These people are usually self-interested demagogues who don't care about journalism, but only care about spreading their propaganda and portraying it in the most favorable light possible. It's not our job to actively promote any one cause. Instead, the Justice's role is to cover all sides of an issue, provided it's relevant to the community and is actively making news.

Finally, there are those who get upset when their own personal cause, political event, or cultural awareness event is not on the front page. Considering it is impossible to place every event as front page news, it's up to the editors to decide whether a story is important to the Brandeis community and what impact it bears on our readership.

Our goal is to portray as accurately and fairly as possible what goes on. And granted we don't always get things right. But we try hard - with editors spending nearly 40 hours per week in the newsroom.

And if you really dislike the way we do things, maybe its time you stop complaining and come write for us yourself. Only after you do the job for yourself - instead of just participating in Brandeis' favorite pastime of complaining or crying foul about everything - are you truly qualified to play toilet-can critic and criticize the paper. In the meantime, instead of griping about what we do wrong, as an alternative try suggesting how we can improve in a productive manner. You'll be surprised how open everyone is to suggestions.

In the end, I have enjoyed the honor of being News Editor for the past year, but I am glad to be getting my life back. Maybe with the 40 or so hours per week back I will now have free time, I can finally do some homework, get some sleep and finally find out where my friends live.