Editor in Chief of East Carolinian releases statement after paper exposes streaker

GREENVILLE, N.C. - It's had people here in the east talking all day.

The uncensored nude pictures of last weekend's streaker right on the front page of The East Carolinian, which is the ECU student run newspaper.

9 On Your Side wanted to know why the nude pictures ended up on the front page.

“All my friends think it's hilarious, they all think it's funny,” said Jason Garrison, Senior, journalism major.

“That, I feel is inappropriate. They shouldn't have placed that in there. It's unneeded,” said Jessica Honesty, Senior, journalism major.

While they are not affiliated with the newspaper, Dr. Mary McLaughlin's journalism students were debating whether or not the nude pictures of the streaker should have been placed uncensored in the newspaper.

“I understand you want to make, you want to do big stories and you want to make things that are controversial and I guess make a name for yourself, I suppose, but they didn't do it the right way,” said Andrew Balot, Senior, broadcast journalism major.

“This is the textbook they use for basic reporting and there's a whole chapter about taste and community standards and defining what is appropriate and what isn't in journalism,” said Dr. Mary McLaughlin, ECU journalism professor. It's just a part of journalism, that it's a very subjective kind of a system people make judgments, some people don't like those judgments and so you deal with it.”

The East Carolinian is independently run by the students and is not a part of the university.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at ECU released a statement today and it said that the university does not agree with the decision to post the pictures and does not support.

The release went on to say, “We will be having conversations with those who were involved in this decision in an effort to make it a learning experience. The goal will be to further the students' understanding that with the freedom of the press comes a certain level of responsibility about what is appropriate and effective in order to get their message across.”

For the paper's part, the Editor in Chief of The East Carolinian, Cailtin Hale, would not speak on camera, but released a statement and it said in part, “This decision was made because we felt that our audience, which is primarily the ECU student body, should have access to unedited and factual photos of the streaking incident at last Saturday's ECU football game. While the photos may be seen as offensive to some, the photos were not meant to be seen as sexually suggestive or insulting, but instead an accurate account of Saturday's events.”

Not only did the pictures appear in the newspaper, but they were also posted on the paper’s website.

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The Editor in Chief of the East Carolinian, Caitlin Hale, has released a statement about the decision to run uncensored photos in the student run newspaper today.

"The photos regarding the streaker in the Nov. 8 edition of The East Carolinian were purposely published.  The news editor, managing editor and myself made the collaborative decision to publish the unedited photos. This decision was made because we felt that our audience, which is primarily the ECU student body, should have access to unedited and factual photos of the streaking incident at last Saturday’s ECU football game. While the photos may be seen as offensive to some, the photos were not meant to be seen as sexually suggestive or insulting, but instead an accurate account of Saturday’s events," said Hale.

The streaker at the ECU football game created a lot of buzz over the weekend.

And this morning, photos that show the streaker bearing all stirred up controversy after they were posted in the print and online version of the newspaper.

Shortly after Nine On Your Side discovered the pictures online, a statement was released by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Virginia Hardy that said, “The decision by The East Carolinian to publish a photo of a streaker that showed full frontal nudity was in very poor taste. The leadership at East CarolinaUniversity does not agree with that decision and does not support it.”

21-year-old John Sieglinger of Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh was charged with indecent exposure and 1st degree trespassing.

ECU Police arrested Sieglinger for streaking at the football game on Saturday.

Since then, pictures and video have been popping all over the internet, but of course those pictures were censored in media coverage.

Officials with ECU Student Affairs say they will be talking with students involved in posting those nude pictures of the streaker in the East Carolinian.

We'll have more details as they become available.