I’ve always been taught to be a nice person. In elementary school I went to everyone’s slumber party, even if I didn’t like them very much. My mom said it was the nice thing to do.

Sometimes I found a way to come home early.

As I got older, my mother’s mantra of being “nice” became more and more imbedded in my conscience. I volunteered at church, tutored at school, baby-sat my brother and sisters on the weekends. It was the nice thing to do and I liked being able to help out.

So when I was asked to help with the Government of the Student Body fund drive on campus the week of Sept. 11, I had to stop and think a minute. My first impulse was to say yes, of course I’d help out. It would’ve been the nice thing to do.

Unfortunately, being a journalist isn’t always about being nice.

I knew the paper would be covering the fund drive. I knew it would be a conflict of interest, that it would show bias.

So I turned GSB down and avoided showing any favoritism.

It’s just a small example of what journalists across the country are facing.

Crazy how something as small as a red, white and blue ribbon is the difference between being patriotic or being impartial.

It’s one of the most important tenets of journalism, and it’s being challenged everywhere from the national news media to a local student television station at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

State legislators are examining funding for the university after they heard the TV station, part of the journalism school, does not approve of students wearing signs of patriotism. Like little red, white and blue ribbons.

“Our news broadcasts are not the place for personal statements of support for any cause – no matter how deserving the cause seems to be,” said Stacey Woelfel, KOMU’s news director, in a memorandum to staff. “Our job is to deliver the news as free from outside influences as possible.”

But state Rep. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, doesn’t agree the policy encourages impartiality.

“My sense is, this is censorship of journalists. It’s basically saying that if you choose to become a journalist, you are basically giving up your right to display that you are an American citizen,” he said in an e-mail to Woelfel.

Bartle’s right. Journalists bite their tongues more than most would probably like to. We hear the facts straight from the mouths of the people involved, but we don’t put our own voice into the stories.

It’s not our job to help our readers make their opinions. It’s our job to give them the information to make decisions on their own.

That crazy idea of impartiality again.

The importance of this policy is enforced by the journalism faculty’s support of the station, even though their funding may be on the line.

Besides, what if the student journalist wears a lesbian/gay student society T-shirt? Think big, pink triangle.

I don’t think Rep. Bartle would be as supportive of those opinions being broadcast to the public.

Policies can’t be selective and if journalists should be allowed to show their patriotism on the air they should be able to show the other causes they support. Even if those causes aren’t as accepted by the mainstream as the state government would like.

And it isn’t easy. Anger, fear, sadness – the emotions are all there.

It would be so easy to go on air and sing the national anthem. To show people we want to help out. But we can’t.

It isn’t always about being nice.

Andrea Hauser is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Edgewood. She is editor in chief of the Daily.