'Prince' policy annoys sources more*

Following up on the success of The Daily Princetonian’s ban on email interviews, the ‘Prince’ announced a new initiative Wednesday to obtain even more revealing information from sources: the ‘Huh?’ ‘Huh?’ nag.

If a source does not respond to a request for comment immediately, a ‘Prince’ reporter will stick a recorder in their face, constantly asking the source the same question at increasing volume levels.

“Why are you embezzling money? Huh? Huh? Why you doing that? Huh? Huh? I know that was you. Huh?” a reporter was seen doing during an interview earlier this week.

University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua, the subject of the interview, was not pleased by the tactic.

“Please leave me alone,” he was overheard telling the ambitious freshman reporter. “Your recorder hit my lip, and it is now bleeding.”

Mbugua said in an interview that the new policy made it extremely difficult for the newspaper and administration to build a constructive relationship.

“I didn’t like the email interview decision, but I could work with it,” he said. “I can’t deal with the ‘Huh?’ ‘Huh?’ policy. ”

Henry Rome, ‘Prince’ editor-in-chief, said the decision was inspired by the success of the email ban, which he said improved the quality of reporting. The next logical step, he said, was to shove recorders while squealing at administrators.

“We value the relationship we have with administrators and appreciate the access we’ve been granted,” he said. “But we can always do better.”

Rome said he planned to publish a story featuring a self-congratulatory timeline of how this decision was made.

The Harvard Crimson recently announced a similar policy, which Rome insisted “had no relation” to the ‘Prince’ decision, adding “they were developed independently.”