Make no mistake – this story affects you. It goes much further than a journalism ethics lecture or a 2009 budget meeting. It’s about the health and public image of our school, and the worth of our professors.

That’s what counts in Channel 2 “running low on Action” News’ story. Their reporter did a sensationalized, ratings-grabbing report suggesting University professors were wasting state funds on trumpet tours and French film trips.

Then our lieutenant governor upchucked the usual feigned outrage of a politician.

And at the receiving end of it all are the professors who now feel they have targets on their backs.

The worst part? State funds were a fraction of the travel budgets when compared to private funds. And these professors had their mug shots put up on screen like common criminals, with dollar amounts next to them as if indicating the sum they stole from taxpayers.

But not every professor had his or her picture onscreen.

Professor Mark Risse was targeted. It wasn’t his picture they put up next to the correct dollar amount, though – it was that of his deceased father.

That’s because WSB reporter Justin Farmer and his roving band of clowns didn’t take the time to check their images. You know, maybe to see that Lawrence M. Risse’s name is awfully similar to his father’s, Lawrence A. Risse?

I talked to the correct Professor Risse, which Farmer never did, and he told me a little about his travels. He usually has a travel budget of $8,000 to $10,000 every year. And the state funds used? About $800.

He once took a trip to China to give advice as an expert in his field, but he only agreed to go on one condition – that the Chinese pay for his trip. So they did. And that’s the little story of how Risse (not his deceased father), can run up a hefty travel bill – and have China cover it.

Our lieutenant governor wasn’t happy – he’d never cover such a trip if he were running the school.

Let’s be honest. Who wants to see Lt. Gov. Cagle, who never graduated from college, running a school?

Sure, I’ve publicly disagreed with Michael Adams in the past, and I probably owe him a few apologies, too. But I can’t argue he doesn’t know how to run this school.

But Casey Cagle?

To paraphrase Borat, my esteemed fellow journalist from Kazakhstan: Letting Cagle run the University “would be like letting [a] monkey fly [a] plane. Boom.”

I understand Cagle has the right to voice an opinion on how a state school spends its money.

But you also have an obligation to be informed about what you’re saying, and the consequences of saying it. I don’t expect a politician to know what he’s talking about, but I do expect it from a journalist.

If we as journalists don’t know what we’re talking about, we’re supposed to ask questions until we do. Farmer either didn’t ask them, or ignored the answers.

So what we have here, other than a failure to communicate, is a case of two dueling egos.

Justin Farmer is trying to get a seat at the anchor desk, and Cagle is trying to get a seat at the governor’s desk. Both shot their mouths off for headlines, without knowing how hard it would unfairly hit the University.

Franklin College Dean Garnett Stokes said Wednesday faculty have already received job offers to leave the University. “They begin to wonder if the University is a place where they should stay, when they’re being targeted,” she said.

A fellow reporter finally got a hold of somebody at WSB-TV who wasn’t hiding in his office with his phone off. The station’s spokesperson, Steve Riley, said WSB-TV “stood by the info in their story and the way it was presented.” He asked the reporter, “Why is this a story to you guys?”

Well I’ll tell you why, Steve. We are told early on in journalism classes “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” So when a station admittedly has months to prepare a report, and they miss things a Journalism 101 student wouldn’t miss, that isn’t a story.

But when their ego trips cause them to miss things that may cause us to lose esteemed members of our faculty? Well, any news station knows that’s a story. Even WSB.

- Marc McAfee is a senior from Kennesaw majoring in broadcast news.