“Many student newspapers relish the freedom of being able to set four-letter words in type. Others see using obscene language as unprofessional.” - Ch. 14, The Student Newspaper Survival Guide by Rachele Kanigel, p. 130.
I’ve never had a problem with students swearing during interviews. If anything they’re too careful about censoring themselves. They always nervously ask, “You won’t make me sound stupid, right? You’ll make me sound smart?”
Though some may argue that obscenities should not be removed from a quote because they show passion, I think that it would make them sound unintelligent. This isn’t true for verbal speech, but I think newspapers have a classy quality to them and obscene language would damage that.
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