It’s no secret that sex is a notorious issue, even though it’s undoubtedly used throughout all forms of media to sell products or to attract viewers and consumers. Television shows, movies, commercials, magazine ads and music are all plagued by sex.

But even though it’s OK to use sex to sell or to degrade, it’s somehow taboo to use it in an educational platform.

“Pressed Up,” a column of “The Mesa Press,” has come under great scrutiny and “apparent” outrage from students and faculty members for covering the controversial topic of oral sex in the previous issue. The magnitude of this outrage garnered this issue to be the leading story on the Nov. 15 broadcast of ABC’s 10News.

In light of this “scandal,” a 10News reporter rushed to Mesa College, in the dead of night, to get the full-scoop on this story- by interviewing two students and a professor who were all unaware of the article’s existence prior to being interviewed.

Yep, that captured the outrage alright. Grrrrr.

This seemed more of a last-minute “story” hastily scrapped together to fill a void that should have been used for an actual scandal or news. This goes to show that anything involving sex is noteworthy.

Sex is everywhere. Whatever the medium, sex will always be prominent in some form. So rather than ignoring it, people should be more informative of sex- all of it. People should know of the risks involved as well as the pleasures.

As people should be aware of the protective measures they can take to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies, they also have the right to know how to make their sex life more satisfactory. If someone didn’t want to be informed or to learn of sex, then that person should just simply not read the article.

The intent was to inform, not to promote sex. It was directed towards already sexually-active adults.

The issue here isn’t just about sex. More importantly it’s about journalistic ethics and integrity.

If these journalists really wanted to get to the core of the matter, then they should have done interviews with a more credible and valuable source, such as the writers of these articles or the editors-in-chief that allowed the articles to print. That’s what an actual journalist or reporter would have done because that’s the basic principle of honest journalism.

Their failure to contact these writers and their decision to not use the editor-in-chief’s statement on the issue exhibits their total disregard for journalistic ethics and/or lack of journalistic expertise.

They even reported the wrong date that the issue was released, which is hard to get wrong since the date is clearly printed on the front page of every issue, just like every other newspaper.

With this kind of reporting going on, it’s safe to say that Stephen Glass might have another shot at being a credible journalist.