Newsroom unfairly surprised
advertising staff with strike
When I jumped on the bus at 8 a.m. on Wednesday I had no idea the day’s events that would unfold. Little did I know, by the time the bus made its second stop, I would start to have a clue.
For there, as I was looking out the bus window I was confronted with the headline of the daily paper, “Emerald News Staff Strikes.” I sat on the bus confused, anxious, and in disbelief. I convinced myself that maybe it was just the sleep deprivation setting in from the overload of homework of week nine. I mean, I should know if my own work is on strike, right?
As soon as I got off the bus I ran to the first distribution box I came across, only for my fears to be confirmed. My stomach churned as I picked up the paper and realized that it definitely was not the lack of sleep. The news staff really was on strike. The worst part about the whole situation was that I had to find out about the situation just as any other student.
I have worked at the Emerald since September and I cannot express how proud I am to be a part of the organization. This is the reason why I was so upset to find out that the news staff had decided to strike without as much as confronting the ad office staff before doing so. The newsroom and ad offices may be separated because of business, but we are still rooting for the same team.
Or so I thought.
As a matter of fact, there are a number of employees who have remained in their offices working during the strike, myself included. I understand the position of the news staff and I support their intent to keep the newspaper independent, but I am not sure this was the best way to go
about things.
I wish that the news staff would have thought about the employees who were not included in the strike. How do they expect unity to come within an organization that half of the staff has walked out on? And, from my perspective, how do you expect the ad staff to continue to financially support a paper that the newsroom does not consider us a part of?
The events over the last few days have not only exposed issues going on with the Emerald as an organization, but also problems that need to be dealt from within. All of us have put our hearts into this paper, and although our contributions may vary, we owe it to ourselves and our readers to pull together.
-Anna Osgoodby, Emerald Advertising Executive
Newsroom’s principles just, but strike only punished readers
I was first notified about the newsroom’s intent to strike when a friend sent me a text message about it Tuesday night. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I figured that if the newsroom was going on strike, I, as an Emerald employee, would have been told.
Sure enough, several people posted updates about the situation and links to several blog posts the next morning. Particularly, Steve Smith’s personal blog received much attention. Many students, alumni, faculty (and ex-faculty) and other journalists contributed their opinions. I read the blog and comments to become more educated about the situation, especially because we at the advertising office were not given
much information.
The ad office and the newsroom function separately in order to preserve the independent reporting of news. This prevents any influence advertisers might have on news content. From what I can tell, this independence is what the newsroom felt was at stake when the Board of
Directors made the decision to hire Steve Smith.
Though I don’t completely support the strike, I appreciate the newsroom’s strong desire to follow the Oregon Daily Emerald’s principles. Ethical decisions in journalism are not always clear or easy to make, and I respect my fellow journalism students for valuing the independent nature of the paper.
However, I do hope they can resolve their issues with the board, and soon. The people who are ultimately being punished by this strike are Emerald readers: University students, staff and other community members. Unlike a former faculty member of the School of Journalism and Communication, I believe the Emerald is valued by its readers and the University and has talented writers on staff. I believe many people would be disappointed if the University did not have a school paper.
Though I hope a situation like this doesn’t happen again, I do wish the entire Emerald staff had been notified and included in a decision like this. The advertising office provides 82 percent of the revenue for the paper, and for the advertising employees to be left out of the loop was disappointing and confusing. It isn’t clear yet whether the strike will have an effect on advertisers’ desire to work with the Emerald in the future, but it
is possible.
– Emily Kahn, Emerald advertising executive
Ad department and newsroom should become more cohesive
I was shocked to find out that the ODE newsroom was on strike. I, like everyone else in the advertising department, had to find out by either looking in the distribution boxes or having the front page thrust in my face. It is sad to say that our organization is not as united as it should be, but that does not mean that we should not be consulted on such a momentous decision as this. What each department does affects the others and the fact that our support was not needed shows the growth that needs to be taken to
become a more cohesive unit.
With the best hopes,
– Riehel Zereyhoune, Emerald Advertising executive
Students in ad department
should have been consulted
It seems there has always been a clear and definite line drawn between the ad office and the newsroom at the Emerald. Many say this is how it should be, as it keeps us from committing “conflicts of interest.” However, as this whole strike ordeal has proven, there are clear negatives to the lack of integration our separate office
spaces provide.
I work in the advertising office. In fact, I have for almost two years now. However, I didn’t find out about the newsroom strike until 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning via a text message from a friend who read the paper before I had the chance.
As an employee of the Emerald, I respect the editorial staff’s decision to make its voice heard, its demands met, and its integrity upheld. Unfortunately, there are 72 people employed by the Emerald, all of whom are affected by the strike, and only 37 signed the petition.
According to a few newsroom staffers, it was a “conflict of interest” to inform the ad office prior to the strike because of Jeanne Long’s seat on the Emerald Board of Directors and her employment in the advertising department. Whose interests would that have conflicted with? Would the demands have been met prior to the strike? Would the public statement have lacked the college-student tantrum effect that has echoed across the nation?
Like I said, I respect the newsroom’s decision to make a statement when it felt its voice wasn’t being heard. What I don’t respect is its decision to overlook more than half of the employees, including those of us who produce funding for the paper, who have also been affected by the strike.
– Stephanie McCulley, Emerald Senior Account Executive