Spring Break
We will not accept corporate ownership
Jennifer Walton, Leah Mori, Adam Gibbs, Anne Waite, Brooke Schledewitz, Jeri Humphries, Bridget Cass
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Opinion
Instead, if distinct patterns in media history are any indication, it will allow a few people in power to dictate what we read every day by managing the content of major news stories - by controlling which sources are used, by dampening investigative reporting, by depoliticizing stories … you get the picture.
College campuses serve as an environment for students to learn and grow, and to raise their voices and have a say. This is where young adults learn to become the next generation of movers and shakers that dictate how our society will be run. The corporate purchase of our independent student voice would only serve to help its new owners "manage" what is said, which does not serve the interest of the student body or our community. Robbed of complete responsibility to make critical editorial decisions, students will not learn to think, to act, to serve their community, or to exercise as a free press.
In a recent Wiretap Magazine article discussing Gannett's 2006 purchase of Florida State University's FSView, Mark Goodman, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, noted that while public university student newspapers are well-covered by the First Amendment, corporate-owned student newspapers may not be. "When you're part of a public university," Goodman said, "student journalists are protected from the university." When owned by a corporation, though, "The private owner can censor ... It's called editing."
In that case, the purchase would certainly be a convenient move for those in power at CSU, given the recent attention the Collegian has received in its calls for a free press.
Perhaps corporate purchase would be acceptable to some people. But we will not and cannot let it happen in an independent, free-thinking college environment. If journalism is the oxygen of democracy, then we wish to continue to breathe the words of our fellow CSU students and not the distant wind blowing from a profit-driven corporation.
College campuses serve as an environment for students to learn and grow, and to raise their voices and have a say. This is where young adults learn to become the next generation of movers and shakers that dictate how our society will be run. The corporate purchase of our independent student voice would only serve to help its new owners "manage" what is said, which does not serve the interest of the student body or our community. Robbed of complete responsibility to make critical editorial decisions, students will not learn to think, to act, to serve their community, or to exercise as a free press.
In a recent Wiretap Magazine article discussing Gannett's 2006 purchase of Florida State University's FSView, Mark Goodman, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, noted that while public university student newspapers are well-covered by the First Amendment, corporate-owned student newspapers may not be. "When you're part of a public university," Goodman said, "student journalists are protected from the university." When owned by a corporation, though, "The private owner can censor ... It's called editing."
In that case, the purchase would certainly be a convenient move for those in power at CSU, given the recent attention the Collegian has received in its calls for a free press.
Perhaps corporate purchase would be acceptable to some people. But we will not and cannot let it happen in an independent, free-thinking college environment. If journalism is the oxygen of democracy, then we wish to continue to breathe the words of our fellow CSU students and not the distant wind blowing from a profit-driven corporation.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 9
Bdygard
Craig Hawley
posted 1/24/08 @ 8:08 AM MST
Once again your headline betrays your arrogant unrealistic view of your importance and power on campus.
We will not accept corporate ownership. (Continued…)
Shawn
posted 1/24/08 @ 10:09 AM MST
Craig ... I hope you are a student and not a member of the faculty. If you are the latter, please change professions because you have no idea, nor respect for, what a free press should be about. (Continued…)
Jamie Folsom
posted 1/24/08 @ 10:13 AM MST
I wholeheartedly support the words of my colleagues. There is time enough after graduation to deal with corporate interests.
Registered Independent
posted 1/24/08 @ 12:12 PM MST
Judging from the position of this article, the fact that the authors have graduate student standing apparently only means that they would have done things slightly differently regarding the political "editorial" in question. (Continued…)
Bdygard
Craig Hawley
posted 1/24/08 @ 11:23 PM MST
I agree it is sad. But you miss what you should be sad about. Be sad that McSwane has forced everyone into these positions by his own selfish abuse of his power and authority ove a critical campus tool. (Continued…)
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