Daily Emerald goes on strike

I’m proud – very proud – that the staff are standing up for what they feel is the right of the ODE to work and report completely independently from the University. If they feel like this situation could have any sniff of conflict of interest or censorship, then they have the right to resist and it looks like they do and have.

Then again I’m an ODE alum and still know a lot of the more senior members on staff so I’m kind of biased in that way.

This is also the sort of thing non-journalists (or journalism majors) might not really grasp. And I get that. But it’s a big deal within journalism.

There’s no such thing as independent journalism, and that’s what this entire thing seems to be about. Here’s a quote from the ODE editors:

The Emerald is in the midst of a transformation that we hope will allow us to continue to publish as long as the University is enrolling students, but we are in dire financial straits and if these changes are not made soon, the Emerald may have to close its doors within the next few years.

However, the newsroom is not willing to sacrifice student control and editorial independence of the Emerald, nor the integrity of this organization, in the process.

Really? So instead, let’s sacrifice the whole paper. At this economic time, no one can afford to do this. I went to a different college, and worked on the paper there. My wife was the editor-in-chief, and because of the size of the paper (weekly), was financed mostly by the college, and thus created a constant struggle between editorial control and censorship. And if that taught me anything, it’s that there will always be someone or something pulling the strings in journalism or anything else. Something is paying the bills, and that will be the force that drives the paper. Whether that’s the university, or people that pay the subscription, or whatever, there’s no such thing as independent journalism. Should it be pursued? Of course, but there has to be a dose of realism at the same time.

While the values that the ODE editors espouse are great, I don’t see how these actions actually will bring that about in the long term. As Smith writes in his letter, the actions seem shortsighted.

Good for the ODE. It is important they stand up for such values, and avoid the slippery slope that is giving up control of their paper.

http://www.dailycal.org/article/104681/standing_for_student_press

I won’t copy the article to here, but the list of signatories is impressive:

The Brown Daily Herald, Brown University
The California Aggie, UC Davis
City on a Hill Press, UC Santa Cruz
Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech
The Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell University
The Daily Aztec, San Diego State University
The Daily Bruin, UC Los Angeles
The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley
The Daily Cardinal, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Daily Evergreen, Washington State University
The Daily Iowan, University of Iowa
Daily Kent Stater, Kent State University
The Daily Lobo, University of New Mexico
The Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara
The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University
The Daily of the University of Washington
The Daily Orange, Syracuse University
The Daily Pennsylvanian, University of Pennsylvania
The Daily Princetonian, Princeton University
The Daily Reveille, Louisiana State University
The Daily Targum, Rutgers University
The Daily Texan, University of Texas at Austin
The Daily Trojan, University of Southern California
The Daily Wildcat, University of Arizona
The Gateway, University of Alberta
The Guardian, UC San Diego
The Highlander, UC Riverside
The Independent Alligator, University of Florida
Ka Leo O Hawaii, University of Hawaii
The Martlet, University of Victoria
The McGill Daily, McGill University
The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
The New University, UC Irvine
The Stanford Daily, Stanford University
The State Press, Arizona State University
The Ubyssey, University of British Columbia
The Vermont Cynic, University of Vermont
Washington Square News, New York University

(by the way, why are so many called “The Daily ___________”???)

And yeah it is all a bit ridiculous. paying someone 80k to quell finance problems seems a bit counter productive.. I knew a lot about what was going down before it happened. too bad there wasnt as good communication between the staff and the board.