Last week, an administrator at the University of Southern California blocked the reappointment of the staff-elected editor in chief of the university’s student-run newspaper, the Daily Trojan. It’s an action that can be considered nothing less than a breach of the paper’s editorial autonomy, and is a troubling move that undercuts the educational and informational purposes of a student newspaper.
Despite being entirely student-run, the Daily Trojan does not enjoy complete financial independence from USC and consequently is required to receive administrative approval of the editor in chief position each semester.
This approval has typically been nothing more than a rubber stamp, but this year the Daily Trojan’s editor in chief for fall semester, Zach Fox, was barred from applying for the position for spring semester by USC’s vice president for student affairs, Michael L. Jackson. Jackson and other administrators said that, because Fox wished to change the responsibilities of the position by delegating more of the day-to-day responsibilities to others, focusing on staff training and improving the newspaper’s Web site, he did not fit the job description. Moreover, there has been speculation that Fox’s appointment was blocked because he repeatedly requested and had been denied information about the budget and finances of the paper – something we believe all newspaper editors should have access to.
We do not believe administrators at any university should have editorial or personnel control over campus newspapers. Such control directly undermines the purpose of a student-run paper. At independent papers, students must make organizational, editorial and financial decisions autonomously, and must reap the consequences of their actions – good or bad.
When university administrators have control over student newspapers, the ability of those students to report the news comprehensively and objectively is significantly hampered. In such cases, students fear that the administration will – as in the scenario at the Daily Trojan – block someone from becoming editor because it does not agree with that person’s editorial decisions. Newspapers are meant to be watchdogs of those in power, and if those in power have the ability to control the most important leadership role of the paper, then that watchdog role is severely diminished. A newspaper that is incapable of checking the balances of power in government without fear of retaliation is all but useless to its readers. USC is doing a disservice to its student journalists and to readers of its paper by exerting such a chilling influence.
We, along with many journalists and editorial boards from collegiate newspapers across the nation, find USC’s decision troubling. We disapprove of any administration that meddles in the employment or editorial decisions of college newspapers. By doing so, the USC administration has created an environment where its students must practice journalism with strings attached and contemplate their editorial aspirations before writing stories that are critical of the administration. Such an environment hampers students’ news reporting and causes young journalists to foster an attitude of subordination to the institutions they cover.
Fortunately, the Oregon Daily Emerald is entirely independent from the University of Oregon. Administrators have no say in what is published in this newspaper, nor do they control who works here. The only financial tie we have to any governmental agency is the subscription fee allocated to us by the ASUO. With such freedom, we are able to publish stories without fear of the University’s reproach. The editorial board encourages all collegiate newspapers to become independent from their universities. The Emerald did it in 1971, ensuring that only the students who work at the paper decide what fills its pages.
Campus newspapers should be independent
Daily Emerald
December 3, 2006
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