The Buzz On Campus

The Max Karson article in the CU Campus Press entitled "If it's war the Asians want..." caused quite a stir on campus this week. As a student of CU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, there have been tense class discussions among students about the article. My teachers have handled the issue by allowing students to share their opinions openly. I've noticed a great divide in student opinion. Some students believe that the article was completely offensive. Others find that it was a satirical piece and should not have been a big deal at all. Because of this split in opinion from students, the discussions about the article created a tense classroom atmosphere.

Some people are asking, "How did someone let this article be published in the first place?" Free speech issues are difficult to tackle, but it's very helpful that I am currently taking a media law class to begin to figure out the situation. Prior restraint, the prevention of publishing material based on its content, is unconstitutional in most situations. The cases when prior restraint is permissible involve obscenity, "fighting words," threat to national security, and an incitement to violence. These four exceptions to prior restraint were determined from the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota. The Karson article would not be subject to prior restraint because the offensive claims that he wrote about Asians do not fit into one of the four categories determined by the Near case.

However, the Karson article may have been prevented from publication, without violating free speech law. The 1988 Supreme Court case of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier encountered similar issues. Students had written articles in their high school newspaper about teen pregnancy in the school and how divorce had damaged some students' families. The high school administrators censored the paper and took out the articles. The students felt this had violated their right to free speech and press. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school's ability to censor. The reasoning behind this decision comes from the fact that the newspaper is funded and sponsored by the school. Because of this, the newspaper is then affiliated with the school. Therefore, any viewpoints written in the newspaper could be seen as representative of the school administrators' opinions.

The Campus Press, like Hazelwood, is affiliated with CU because it is sponsored and funded by the university. That is why the university could have edited the article, or prevented it from publication, while still respecting free speech law. There was simply a decision by the editors to go ahead and publish the article although it has offended many on campus. The Campus Press and its faculty support are starting over this week by determining where restrictions should be made on student expression in the paper. It will be interesting to see where the Campus Press will go from here, deal with the controversy, and what new rules will be put in place for their student reporters. It is vital for student reporting to retain as much free speech as possible, but in the interest of the public, offensive language could be watched more closely without truly restricting student reporting.

This post can also be read at Yourhub.com

More On Oprah News... A Possible Oprah Jr.?

Tyra Banks is rapidly becoming Oprah Jr. with the steps that she is taking to distribute her brand through mass media. Like Oprah, Banks tries to attract her fans and reel in an audience by acting like a close girlfriend, according to a recent Entertainment Weekly article. With this approach, Banks has propelled her brand through many media outlets and has become a household name. Her popularity grew tremendously with her hit reality show America's Next Top Model and now with her daytime talk show Tyra.

Banks is said to appeal to a younger female audience than Oprah does. However, it seems like Bank's tactics to become a mogul may have a few roadblocks. Comedic shows that are founded on criticizing reality shows, like E's The Soup or VH1's Best Week Ever, often make Banks and her shows take the brunt of the criticism. Because of these comedic influences, I've personally noticed a distaste for Banks among my peers and I think that her overall persona could deteriorate because of her critics. She may not be able to make it to Oprah Jr. status quite yet but her brand will keep expanding with her newest TV and film production deal with Warner Brothers.

Honolulu Advertiser Bloggers on Strike

On my news feed on the side of this page, I put the Honolulu Advertiser into the widget so that I can constantly be updated as to what is happening at the paper. What came up on the feed this week was that the bloggers that work at the Honolulu Advertisers went on strike.

This is the first-time ever blog strike. Reasons for the strike are that there are new changes that were put in their contract that were obviously unfavorable. The Honolulu Advertiser has had bloggers for two years already and this is the first use of blogs to really take a stance at the paper. I think it's interesting that the ceasing of blogging has such an influential power for a news organization that it can cause desired change. We will see what happens with this situation and when blogging will continue. For more information on the story you can read an article about it at Editor & Publisher.

Advice to a Baby Journalist

I like to think of myself as a "baby" journalist, yes that's a weird term to like. But I was grateful to get a packet from my photo teacher, Kevin Moloney, filled with tons of advice for aspiring journalists such as myself. I thought I would share some of the advice from the packet because I think much of it is essential when starting off in journalism preschool:

1. The hard work must start now.
2. A degree alone means nothing.
3. Take your time as a student.
4. Shoot pictures (or do your journalistic work) every day.
5. Find any and every outlet for your work.
6. Know the news.
7. Start internships now.
8. Enter contests.
9. Read about photojournalism/journalism.
10. Know techniques new and old.

These are just ten elements from Moloney's packet that I thought were very important. These points are straight-forward and I think that following them will definitely help any journalism student get a head start on his or her career goals.

I'm so tired......

Dear esteemed journalists:
Please. Please. Never again mention Britney Spears in your broadcast. I am so tired of it. She is a celebrity, yes. Newsworthy? Absolutely not. Please, no more Britney news. I don't care if she is being chased by photographers. I don't care if she shaved her head. I just don't care. Journalists, please stop adding wood to the Britney bonfire. I'm tired. So tired of it. Who cares, really? I don't care, do you care?

The BBC can see that we are sickly obsessed. Read their article LA's obsession with Britney Spears

Bruce Benson Controversy

My report covering the Bruce Benson Controversy on the CU-Boulder Campus:

CU PRESIDENTIAL FINALIST, BRUCE BENSON, HAS CAUSED QUITE THE COMMOTION ON THE CU BOULDER CAMPUS. BENSON IS THE SOLE CANDIDATE FOR THE POSITION REPLACING HANK BROWN. CU STUDENTS ARE IN GREAT DISARRAY OVER THE FACT THAT BENSON ATTAINED HIS WEALTH FROM OIL AND GAS AND ALSO BECAUSE HE IS THE FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR THE STATE OF COLORADO. STUDENTS ARE VERY CONCERNED WITH THIS POTENTIAL PRESIDENT’S EFFECT ON THE UNIVERSITY. SOME STUDENTS DON’T THINK IT’S FAIR TO BE LEFT WITH ONE FINALIST.

I don’t understand how they spend so much money and only find one candidate.
(Miles Daly, Geography major)

Only having one finalist is narrow and needs to be more balanced.
(Will Johnson, Civil Engineering)

STUDENTS ALSO WORRY IF HE WILL CHANGE CU’S PUSH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION.

It’s bad to bring an oil man to a school looking for uses of alternate energy.
(Will Johnson, Civil Engineering)

BENSON’S SUPPORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DRAWS FROM HIS POLITICAL PAST. BENSON, A FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE COLORADO REPUBLICAN PARTY, RAN UNSUCCESSFULLY AS THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF COLORADO IN 1994 AS HE LOST THE ELECTION TO ROY ROMER. STUDENTS ON CAMPUS CAN’T IGNORE HIS POLITICAL BACKGROUND AND ARE TAKING THAT INTO CONSIDERATION AS WELL.

I just don’t think he’s right for CU. CU is pretty liberal.
(Emily Sturges, English)

BECAUSE MANY STUDENTS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE SOLE CANDIDATE, BENSON IS HOSTING ANOTHER OPEN FORUM ON TUESDAY NIGHT. HE IS ALSO HOSTING A MEETING WITH CU STAFF MEMBERS ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON TO ADDRESS ANY FURTHER CAMPUS DISCONTENT.

Rare Shark Found Near Molokai!

Okay this video is ridiculous! I found this from a link on the KHNL website, a local station in Hawaii. I am so intrigued by this video because the shark in the video is rarely massive. It is estimated at about 18 feet long. This shark was caught on tape at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii. I am impressed that the marine biologists' cameras got this footage and by their technology to be able to find this and capture it clearly on video. Enjoy this scary video! And just think, that this is below you when you are relaxing in the water.

Super Tuesday... it really was super

Super Tuesday was an exciting night as 22 states held their caucuses or primaries. For my Super Tuesday coverage I attended a public TV watching and analyzing event by CU-Boulder professor Dr. Elizabeth Skewes. She had a very interesting analysis of the political news coverage on the election so far. Some of her insightful points are included in the following:

1. The media killed John Edwards' campaign because he is not diverse.

I think that this point has great validity to it. The American public seems to be wanting a governmental change and it is exciting to have two diverse candidates in the Democratic party that actually both stand a legitimate chance of winning. Regardless of Edwards' campaign tactics and position on issues, he fits the mold of the wealthy, white male candidate. There's nothing new and exciting there. The media is definitely more intrigued by the fact that a woman or African-American could win the Democratic nomination.

2. In early campaigning, positive media references of Clinton occurred 27% of the time, while for Obama 46% of his media references were positive.

Dr. Skewes argued that the liberal media is rooting for Obama and could have tremendous sway in public opinion. Her reasons for the media's support of Obama were:
1. Obama makes great one-liners and soundbites
2. The media is afraid of being perceived as racist for bashing the Obama campaign.

I again think these are insightful reasons as to why Dr. Skewes believes the media is leaning towards, and may be influencing, an Obama victory. Obama is known for being a great public speaker, which translates into spectacular media production.

The last point in Dr. Skewes lecture about Super Tuesday that really struck me was the following:

3. A candidate can win the nomination, but must survive the election.

I think it will be a dramatic battle to the end. Not only to solidly determine the Democratic nomination, but also the final presidential election. No matter which candidates are the Republican and Democratic nominees, there will be a total tear down of each campaign by their opponent. The mud-slinging is often criticized as unprofessional but, truthfully, it's like a reality show to Americans. We want to watch the drama; I know I do.