Last week I received a letter to the editor sent anonymously. The letter called into question a story the East Tennessean published on Sept. 19 about former Police Chief Nicole Collins’ resignation from ETSU. In response to the unsigned letter, I would like to address the writer’s main issues with the story.
First, the letter claimed the East Tennessean’s reporting was “extremely unbalanced, presenting only Dr. Noland’s version of events …” However, I did personally reach out to Collins. Yes, we did not include this in our story, which was a mistake on our part. As she is a private citizen now, there was no easy direct way for the newspaper to contact her, but I did reach out to her via Facebook messenger. To present, she has not responded. Had Collins commented, we may have been able to address many other questions the anonymous letter writer asked about the motivations for her resignation.
Additionally, the East Tennessean was the first outlet to provide any new information about Collins’ resignation since its first reporting. Had our writer not attended the Student Government Association meeting on Sept. 17, this new information may not have been publicly available as no other media was present.
