Tuesday afternoon around 3 p.m., University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and his entourage landed at the Fort Collins-Loveland airport ahead of a meeting with current CSU head football coach Jim McElwain. Multiple local news outlets set up shop at the airport to document Foley and Co.’s arrival. No problem, right?

But after the group deplaned and climbed into a white SUV bound for McElwain’s home, those media members followed. The news outlets spent the entire afternoon and most of the night with their eyes and cameras trained on the McElwain household. No problem, right? Wrong.

Although McElwain’s possible departure from Colorado State is a monumental story, the media’s O.J. Simpson-like coverage of it has been disappointing, to say the least. There’s a line between reporting on a story and invading someone’s privacy and personal life. These outlets acted more like paparazzi than the respected, professional journalists they are expected to be. We at the Collegian believe in the importance of properly and promptly reporting a story, but not when that zealousness for breaking news crosses the line into harrassment. Eventually, the truth of the McElwain saga will play out, and it will surely be front page news. But until then, how far are people willing to go to get a story? Unfortunately, it seems that, in this case, the scoop matters more than a healthy respect for McElwain’s privacy.

Collegian Editorial Board can be reached at letters@collegian.com.