In a guest column recently published by conservative news magazine The National Review, a student journalist at Portland State University claimed to have been fired from his school’s newspaper for simply “reporting the truth.”

The student and author of the column, Andy Ngo, said he was asked to resign as multimedia editor of the school’s paper, The Vanguard, by the paper’s editor a few days after posting a short video on Twitter of a Muslim student’s response to a question during an interfaith religious discussion panel at the university.

In the clip, the student gave a response to a question about whether or not a specific verse in the Quran permitted the killing of non-Muslims. The student said in the clip that in certain Islamic countries, laws requires non-believers to be exiled.

Ngo’s video and tweet were picked up in a story published on the conservative (and often-controversial) news website, Breitbart.com, which Ngo claims in his article to be one of the reasons he was fired by the Vanguard.

The college paper’s editor-in-chief, Colleen Leary, published column on the Vanguard’s website in response to Ngo’s National Review piece. In that article, Leary said decision to fire Ngo was based on the fact his tweet — where he stated the speaker said that “apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state” — violated the code of ethics outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists, which advise against “dangerous oversimplification.”

Her belief is that Ngo’s tweet could place the Muslim student filmed in the video in harm’s way — given today’s politically-charged atmosphere, that argument is not without merit.

However, we believe that in this case, Ngo’s firing was not justified, at least given the reasons Leary presented in her column.

While the clip Ngo initially posted was a brief snippet of a longer answer, the student posted a longer version of his answer immediately afterwards, so people could view his answer in the entirety of its context.

But most importantly, there was nothing in the clip nor Ngo’s tweet that said the speaker was calling for the death of non-believers in these countries. Instead, the student pointed out a fact that is demonstrably true: in some Islamic countries, people can be forced into exile or worse for apostasy. 

As journalists ourselves, we recognize the importance of minimizing harm to the people we cover. Whether that is through providing proper context for the quotes we receive or spiking prurient stories that we feel are not in the public interest, we use our power of the pen responsibly, in a way that will not unduly damage the safety and reputation of others.

However, our main responsibility is always first and foremost to the truth. If someone at a public event says something that is true, we have an obligation to share that with readers — even if that fact is controversial.

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of general manager Ambrosia Neldon and editors Scott Novak and Ted Yoakum.