TN college newspaper editor resigns after controversial profile of student with friends in Israel

The editor of a college newspaper in Tennessee resigned after he felt improperly supported in the paper's response to campus anger over an Israel-related story.

"Just two weeks ago, I was the editor-in-chief of Middle Tennessee State University’s student newspaper, MTSU Sidelines," Matthew Giffin wrote in The College Fix. "Animated by the horrific images I saw Oct. 7, I wrote a story profiling a MTSU student worried about his friends in Tel Aviv."

"Unable to stand behind a dishonest and harmful representation of my story, I resigned," he continued. 

Sidelines, the school paper, "received unprecedented feedback from students on the article’s Instagram post, and the student I profiled asked that I take down the article out of concern for his safety," Giffin wrote. "But then the editorial board, against my expressed wishes, published a statement: ‘In retrospect, Sidelines failed to report on the casualties the Palestinian people have suffered and focused only on damage done to the Israeli population.’"

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Giffin wrote that he "decided to step down because I felt the statement that the editorial board and the faculty advisor released was something I couldn’t stand behind." 

He continued: "I don’t think they are bad people or antisemitic — I do think antisemitism played a disproportionate role in how the events at the paper unfolded. I still plan to write and speak out about things that are important, whatever the consequences may be. Telling the truth is a lost practice, and I’d like to bring it back. Morality is important for the order and survival of our society. Our way of life will fail if we cave to the influence of those who stand behind terrorists like Hamas."