After all, drizzle seems like a deluge after a long drought, but it did make me stop to think about what the “Letters” section had to offer to the newspaper.

We operate on a 24-hour news cycle. Things happen and then they are reported almost immediately. Just as fast as a story develops, it disappears from the paper. The most recent example of this is the alleged on-campus sexual assault.

The story broke in the news blog The Michigan Messenger on Sept. 29. The last State News story directly related to the alleged incident was posted online Oct. 3. Since then, two guest columnists and several students have written articles about how the case was handled.

Their writings have focused on everything from Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III to the MSU administration. The most recent letter was published last Thursday — a month after The State News finished its coverage.

In that time, this paper — and this section in particular — has been conspicuously silent. In the first few days there was some discussion as to whether we should write an opinion.

The decision was no. It wasn’t because the topic was controversial, but because given the information at hand, there wasn’t much we thought we could add beyond the reporting.

The story, factually, was done. Until something about it shows up again, don’t expect to see anything in this paper.

Our basic news model can best explain why individuals such as Emily Syrja, an English and women’s and gender studies sophomore, felt we were not offering a sufficient amount of coverage to a group that protested during the Izzone Campout.

In her letter, “State News, letter writer lack perspective, objectivity,” (SN 10/27), she wrote that she was frustrated with The State News’ “uneven coverage of the event.”

It is because of this response that she felt MSU was not “an institution that prioritizes the pursuit of truth and justice over a shot at the Final Four.” The State News also lacked that distinction in her opinion.

This is a perfect example of how news and perception don’t always match. For Syrja, it was completely unacceptable that a subject she — and apparently plenty of others — felt was unresolved should take a backseat to something that seemingly was inconsequential.

Syrja fails to recognize that the protest wasn’t the story. That it happened during the course of the event was significant enough to merit a mention, but beyond that it wasn’t newsworthy. Timing is everything.

If the group seeks truth and justice, I can agree with what its members are seeking to accomplish. I don’t particularly approve of the methods or reasoning behind the goals they want to accomplish, but I do think they have a role to play.

A 24-hour news cycle plays strongly to reactionary stories. Things happen, they are researched, confirmed, clarified and then published. Usually there is a follow-up to see if anything has happened since the last story. And as Jay-Z would say, “It’s on to the next one.”

In this case, however, loiterers should not be arrested.

I think readers should take the time to write in, comment or suggest stories even after it seems we have moved on.

Sometimes there are unanswered questions and unresolved issues we do not address. It isn’t because of malicious neglect or indifference, but because in a non-stop news world, we lack the manpower to cover and analyze everything that happens.

So, I would implore people who want dialogue to continue writing, marching or whatever it is you do. It is important that even after the “news” has passed, the discussion continues.

David Barker is the State News opinion editor. Reach him at barkerd@msu.edu.