On March 21, a letter to the editor was published from a psychology student who said that she was happy to keep up with the Daily Kent Stater’s “smart and informative articles” until she saw that our paper had advertisements for strip clubs, and she claimed that this “can be inferred as the Kent Stater directly endorsing a strip club.”

The strip club in question is the Diamond Lodge, the only strip club that is advertising in the Stater this semester.

While I first thought this letter to be prudish and judgmental, I will admit a strip club is not the first thing I want to associate myself with, but strip clubs deserve the same rights as any other legitimate business to advertise wherever appropriate. As a newspaper for young adults who are looking to let loose in an educational institution, this is very appropriate. But I am a bit disappointed in this letter because I have to remind a psychology major of the difference between content and context.

The student loved the Daily Kent Stater’s smart and informative articles, and that has not changed; we still write articles for and by the students of Kent State about issues and topics that will concern our readers. However, we typically don’t write about strip clubs; we don’t have a strip club beat reporter writing exclusively on the latest raunchy news in our paper. This is a matter of advertising.

The media, especially print news media, rely greatly on advertisements for their publications and websites in order to have revenue to compensate employees and cover printing costs. In the 2011-2012 school year, the Stater made $47,186 in print advertisements. Although we are being paid to advertise the Diamond Lodge, we aren’t reporting on the Diamond Lodge.

I will say that I do not exactly love strip clubs myself for many reasons, including that I have a girlfriend (love you, honey) and because it’s just not really my scene. But I do know some students who like strip clubs and would probably love to take advantage of those deals you find in an advertisement for a strip club.

I understand where the student is coming from, but if you judge a news outlet by its advertisements, maybe you shouldn’t be making an opinion of it.