Matthew Giffin, the newest member of The Tennessee Star team of journalists, joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio to discuss the controversy surrounding his resignation as editor-in-chief of MTSU Sidelines, Middle Tennessee State University’s official student newspaper.
Giffin brings listeners into the room and shares the events leading to his resignation, triggered by the publication of an article covering a student’s concern for family and friends in Tel Aviv during a conflict. The story faced intense backlash on social media, leading to threats against the interviewed student.
Giffin details the editorial board’s decision to take down the article, the subsequent false statement issued, and his decision, ultimately, to walk away from the outlet.
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Patrick Leahy: 12:05 p.m., broadcasting live from our studios in downtown Nashville. We are joined in-studio by the newest member of The Tennessee Star team, Mr. Matthew Giffin.
Good afternoon, Matthew.
Matthew Giffin: Good afternoon, Michael. Thank you for having me.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, we first got to know each other because you are currently a senior at Middle Tennessee State University and on a path to graduate in what, May?
Matthew Giffin: May; yes, sir.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Yeah, and we first got to know you because you were until just a month or so ago, the editor of the school newspaper there.
Matthew Giffin: Yes, I was the editor-in-chief at MTSU Sidelines, MTSU’s official student newspaper.
Michael Patrick Leahy: MTSU Sidelines. It’s been in the newspaper for some time, right?
Matthew Giffin: A while, yeah. Sidelines has a pretty storied history.
It was the first place I was recommended to go when I told people I was interested in pursuing journalism at the school.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Now, where are you from originally, Matthew?
Matthew Giffin: Fayetteville, Tennessee.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Fayetteville. Love Fayetteville.
That’s a great, great little town.
They have a little festival there over Christmas, don’t they?
Matthew Giffin: Slawburger and Host of Christmas Past. Yep.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So you were the editor of the school newspaper there – I don’t want to dwell on this because it’s been you know, it’s come and gone -but the controversy was it just to explain the circumstances around the story you wrote why you chose to take it down, what the editorial board did after that, and why you chose to resign?
Matthew Giffin: Sure. So, October 7th happened, and that was an incredibly, incredibly shaking-up moment for me.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And when you say October 7th happened, that means that Hamas terrorists crossed the border and in a variety of ways murdered more than 1,200 innocent Israelis, so that was the big story there.
Matthew Giffin: Yes, that was the big story. There were lots of images and videos and things that came out on the internet, and I saw – and a bunch of other people saw – and I, and a bunch of others, I think, rightly were outraged by what was going on over there and by how a lot of people were responding to it and talking about it.
Michael Patrick Leahy: When you say people were responding to it.
Some people were justifying the conduct. The barbarous murderous conduct and the antisemitism thereof of the Hamas terrorists
Matthew Giffin: Exactly. Yes, people were coming out like that one. That one, Black Lives Matter related organization. I think it was yeah, it was that grassroots organization.
They came out, they came out with that post that said, ‘Free Palestine.’ And it had a picture of a terrorist on a parachute, just like they did in the video. And, and they came out and they, you know, endorsed what happened over there, and lots of people came out and endorsed what happened.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And that was surprising and disturbing to you.
Matthew Giffin: Yes, it was incredibly disturbing to me that people could come out and see these images that, at the time, like, we realized, this is, for Israel, this is worse than what 9-11 was like for us. This was something that was a terrible shakeup to their community they have since rallied, and have become a very unified front on this one issue because of so much death and destruction that came to their people.
To have the gall to sit there and say that it was justified and that it should have happened and that it’s just the cost of “freedom fighting” – I think that’s morally outrageous.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So you have a friend, I guess, on the campus of MTSU.
Matthew Giffin: Yes, that’s correct. I knew a guy who had some family friends who lived in Tel Aviv at the time. And I said to myself, I have an ability to write something up about this and talk about this kid’s experience with what just happened and his point of view.
And so I gave that voice to him, you know, because I’m a journalist. That’s what I do. That’s what you’re supposed to. That’s what I was taught to do at that very school.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So when was that story published?
Matthew Giffin: That was published in late October.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So you published a story describing his concern for his family, friends in Tel Aviv.
Matthew Giffin: What happened next? Well, what happened next is the story stayed up on the website for a couple days and then we uploaded it to Instagram where it got into the public view of most of the students and people just went off.
Michael Patrick Leahy: When you say people “went off ” what specifically did they do?
Matthew Giffin: There were lots of very negative comments on the post calling out our interview subject by name.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Did you identify the interviewed subject by name in the original article?
Matthew Giffin: Yes. It was in the first sentence of the piece: there was his name. And then people were calling him out in the comments.
Michael Patrick Leahy: I think what they’re saying mean and threatening things about him.
Matthew Giffin: Yes; very much. So things – calling him ignorant, calling him evil, calling him a coward–
Michael Patrick Leahy: Calling him evil. Now were these students at MTSU?
Matthew Giffin: From what I could tell most commenters on MTSU sidelines post our students. So I think it’s safe to say that. Yeah, most of them were.
I think it’s safe to say most of them were students, and they were doing all sorts of things like I said. They were saying all these derogatory things about him and even, I believe, they tagged his employer in the comments and trying to get their attention.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Were they attempting to get him fired?
Matthew Giffin: That’s what it seemed like. That is certainly what it seemed like. And that was one of the things that raised my attention. I was, I said to myself, I need to, you know, we need to be careful about what happens.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So, did the subject of the article contact you?
Matthew Giffin: Yes; we got to talking and he requested that I take down the article out of concern for his own safety – for that purpose.
And because he has loved ones, he has people he cares about and he has himself. He said, ‘Well, I really would rather not have this out there.’ So I said, ‘Yes, sure.’ And I resolved that that was the only reason I would ever take down that article.
Michael Patrick Leahy: He asked, you took it down.
Matthew Giffin: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Okay. What happened next?
Matthew Giffin: Well, it got the attention of the rest of the editorial board at the paper, as well as my faculty advisor, I brought it to his attention, what was happening, and they called a meeting about what we were going to do in response. I didn’t think much of a response was necessary, we took down the article, people were upset, it seemed it was over.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So it was a done deal. It was over.
Matthew Giffin: Yes, it was over. It was open and shut.
And then they said, we need to put out a statement and I went along with that. I said, ‘Okay, fine, that’s fine.’ And they said, ‘We’ll put out a statement that says that we took it down out of concern for a student’s safety.’ And I said, ‘Okay, yeah, sure.’
And then they said, ‘Okay, also we are going to add on this statement that says that the story was not balanced and that said it failed to report on the Palestinian casualty count.’
Michael Patrick Leahy: And that was not true.
Matthew Giffin: That was not true at all – not at all. It was a false misrepresentation of what happened, for sure. And we sat in that meeting for a long time.
Michael Patrick Leahy: How many people were on this editorial board?
Matthew Giffin: Let’s see. So it was, it was mainly the news editors. So there were, there were the three news editors and then there was our faculty advisor.
Michael Patrick Leahy: What’s the faculty advisor’s name again?
Matthew Giffin: That was Leon Alligood.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Alligood, who used to be a reporter for The Tennessean, right?
Matthew Giffin: Correct. Yeah. The Tennessean.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And by the way, just as an aside, we had reached out in the course of The Tennessee Star, we’ve reached out, you know, your group did some reporting, I think from Iowa ways back.
And we said, ‘Hey, good stuff we’d like to talk to him,’ never responded to us. We’ve asked him multiple times for comments, hasn’t responded to us.
The editorial board ultimately did respond to us about this incident, but in a way that he wouldn’t. So he wouldn’t deign to talk to us.
But let’s talk about your editorial board.
Were you surprised that the people you knew on the editorial board were pushing for this, you know, phony statement?
Matthew Giffin: I was; I was taken aback. Yes. I was taken aback that they would do this. You know, to me, it felt kind of like a betrayal.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Why did they feel compelled to do this?
Matthew Giffin: I am still a bit unsure. I don’t understand their reasoning. I really don’t.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Were they pressured or are they ideologues of the Left or pro-Hamas?
Matthew Giffin: No; I don’t think they’re anti Semitic. I don’t think they’re pro-Left ideologues. I think some of them probably are. I mean, that’s what they churn out at places like MTSU.
But I mean, it’s just one of those things where I think that they were afraid of the crowd pressure.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Were they influenced by your faculty advisor, Professor Alligood?
Matthew Giffin: He sat in on the meeting where the statement was drafted. I made my opposition to the statement known several times and very obviously, and he did push back.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Against you.
Matthew Giffin: Against me.
Michael Patrick Leahy: I’m going to say this about this. I’m saying it, not you.
He obviously displayed a lack of journalistic ethics by putting out and supporting a false statement about why the article is taken down. That’s my view on it, not yours.
Matthew Giffin: Well, yeah, it was a very unfortunate situation.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, here’s the good news, Matthew, that unfortunate situation has come and gone. And there’s a new situation arising where you’re going to be able to advance your career in journalism. And we’ll talk about that when we get back, this is The Tennessee Star Report.
He’s Matthew Giffin. I’m Michael Patrick Leahy.
We’ll be right back after this.
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Photo “Matthew Giffin” by Matthew Giffin. Background Photo “Middle Tennessee State University” by MTSUGoRaidersGo. CC BY 3.0.
