Keep the ODE Independent
I’m issuing this as an editorial. I’ve talked with Guy, the publisher, and he is in agreement with it. If any of the staffers disagree, that’s fine. You’re welcome to write your own opinion and post it on the blog. Without further ado:
It has come to the Oregon Commentator’s attention, as it probably has to most of the campus, that the Oregon Daily Emerald is on strike.
In a front-page editorial and separate broadsheet issued this morning, the Emerald presented what it says are unacceptable conditions forced on it by its Board of Directors and stated that it would cease publishing until the board meets the staff’s demands.
The full substance of the Emerald’s argument will not be restated in this editorial, but we will summarize it for context: The Board of Directors, going directly against the wishes of the Emerald staff, hired Steven Smith to be the paper’s new position of “interim publisher” for a year while it searched for a permanent publisher.
Smith was hired at the exorbitant salary of $80,000 a year – at a time when the Emerald is in the red and desperately seeking to increase profits. The real problem, though, was Smith was given “supervisory control” over the student editors. The current equivalent position of general manager has no such control.
Furthermore, it was hinted at by the board that Smith might teach at the UO School of Journalism. The Emerald vigorously opposed Smith’s for all these reasons and more, and presented a list of four demands to the board, reprinted here verbatim:
1. Immediately rescind the offer to Steven A. Smith to serve as interim publisher April 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.
2. Conduct a nationwide search for a publisher, as originally voted at the Feb. 10 board meeting.
3. Stipulate in the chosen publisher’s contract that he or she shall not be employed in any capacity by the University, including at the School of Journalism and Communication.
4. Stipulate in the chosen publisher’s contract that he or she shall not have immediate supervisory control over the editor; rather, the publisher and student editor shall remain equals in the organization, as the general manager and student editor currently are.
The board ignored the Emerald staff’s complaints, and, as a final insult, made the discussion of Smith’s hiring an executive session, which means it’s closed to everybody but the board.
Some probably expect us to use this opportunity to snipe at the Emerald or revel in its problems, but the Oregon Commentator fully stands behind the Emerald and its demands.
At a time when newspapers everywhere are struggling to maintain their relevancy – both as solvent businesses and a vital public service – it is more important than ever that they conduct themselves with absolute integrity and transparency.
With this in mind, we find the Board of Director’s actions disingenuous and harmful to the reputation of not only the Daily Emerald but also the University of Oregon. One would have hoped for better from a school with a nationally recognized journalism program.
However, we are not completely surprised by the board’s conduct.
Earlier in the year, Editor-in-Chief of the Oregon Commentator C.J. Ciaramella applied to sit on the Daily Emerald Board of Directors. Readers may chuckle at the idea, and the humor of the situation was no doubt part of Ciaramella’s motivation. But he was also motivated by a strong desire to protect and make student media better. For as much as the Commentator criticizes and makes fun of the Daily Emerald, it is ultimately due to our vision of how good a student newspaper can and should be.
In fact, the Commentator was founded in 1983 by two former members of the Daily Emerald with the lofty goal of making campus media coverage and discussion more diverse, more freewheeling and more fun. If readers will allow us a moment of hubris, we feel this goal has largely been accomplished.
But we can’t do it alone. Just as the campus needs an opinionated, right-of-center publication, it needs an unbiased paper of record. Just as it needs a good arts and entertainment magazine like the Oregon Voice. Just as it needs a good radical leftist paper, unlike the Student Insurgent.
Ciaramella, who has about three or four years of college journalism experience, was denied the Board of Directors seat without being granted an interview. The board balked at allowing someone who writes for a “rival” publication to sit on the body. In an email exchange, Mark Blaine, a journalism professor Watson, former chair of the ODE Board of Directors, wrote (emphasis added):
“Your assurance that ODE Board business will not be covered by you for the Commentator helps, and it sounds like you probably have the best interests of the ODE at heart; however, as I’ve continued to think about this, the crux of the matter is that you will face an unavoidable conflict of interest. The Board has ultimate legal and moral responsibility for all acts of the corporation, and individual Directors, as fiduciaries, are legally and ethically required to be loyal to the corporation. You run a publication that competes with the ODE in several ways (e.g., for readers, student funds, etc.), and I have trouble with the idea of placing anyone in a position where their loyalty is or can be divided. Given your position at the Commentator, I don’t see how this can be reconciled. I assume you are not interested in signing a notarized affidavit or anything like that. Can you see my problem?”
The Commentator can certainly see the board’s problem. What it can’t see is how, after rejecting Ciaramella on the grounds of conflict of interest, it can justify hiring Smith, giving him supervisory control over the editorial staff of the Emerald and allowing him to teach in the School of Journalism.
As the Emerald pointed out, this creates so many conflicts of interest it’s not even funny (even to our twisted sense of humor). Imagine having one of your professors also be your boss. Conversely, imagine having your boss also be your professor.
Can you see our problem?
Perhaps its time to reevaluate just how independent or “student-run” the Daily Emerald can be while under the thumb of the Board of Directors and paid staffers. The Commentator’s Board of Directors and Board of Trustees are all students and alumni. Granted, we aren’t attempting to run a paper of anywhere near the size and scope of the Emerald’s, but we’ve managed to get along all right for 25 years with nothing but a dedicated, all-volunteer staff.
In any case, the Commentator urges the Daily Emerald Board of Directors to submit to the staff’s demands. The University of Oregon campus needs an independent newspaper of quality and depth, not beholden to the administration, faculty or the School of Journalism.
If our arguments still aren’t enough to convince the board, consider this: As long as the Emerald is on strike, the Oregon Commentator will be the only news publication on campus. You’ve been warned.
On the Betz getting excited issue(s): I know Nike already puts microchips in shoes. In fact, I wanted them there on purpose, so now my iPod can sync up with my runs and record my mileage. Oh, those nefarious bastards!
[…] warmed relations between us and our staunchest critics, the staff of the Oregon Commentator. Their excellent piece in support of us brought tears to our eyes. Their solidarity in refusing to produce content during […]
[…] warmed relations between us and our staunchest critics, the staff of the Oregon Commentator. Their excellent piece in support of us brought tears to our eyes. Their solidarity in refusing to produce content during […]
Nike wrote the DOJ torture memos ! Nike sunk Atlantis ! Nike crashed a holographic plane into the Pentagon ! Nike crashed the economy of Chile ! Nike put a worm into Bono’s brain it can turn off and on at will ! Nike shot the rockets at Israel and blamed it on Hamas ! Nike has conspired to put a shoe in every American household, and one day they will all ‘activate’ ! Nike framed Roger Rabbit ! Nike replaced Michael Jordan with a robot in 1992 and used ‘Space Jam’ to recruit soldiers somehow ! Nike perpetuates the lie that is the 1-day cycle ! Nike is in the movie business !
Oh NUD, you make me kinda miss Eugene.
Holy shit, I think I work with nike urbanism blah blah!
Also, the Emerald bored is intentionally spelled that way because they are boring. Kind of like the Boregonian.
That’s it-you all need a time out in one of uncle Alberto’s controversial altitude tents. That will bring you to your senses. In other news the Ducks just lost again. Do you suppose the Emerald or RG will be recalculating those revenue projections anytime soon ? Perhaps after the Emerald shuts down completely the Commentator can snag the office space. On the Betz getting excited issue….what subject is your interest ? Nike microchips embedded in shoes ? How about the Nike contracts seized by the feds in the Balco steroids case ? What is your fancy ? How about Nike’s federal PAC (political action committee) donations ? Credit Suisse involvement with the UO Foundation ? Or Nike’s partnership with the United Nations ? Nike green chemistry research at UO ? OSPIGG’s endorsement of Nike ? Nike’s endowed UO professor in charge of the faculty senate ? Okay, times up, you lose, I am going to get a beer.
To the Oregon Commentator and the readers of this blog:
On behalf of the ASUO Executive Campaign of Carina Miller and Nick Gower. We feel that there should be more vending machines in the EMU. We also think tvs should be given away for little reason to student groups. As far as the ODE goes, it’s an alright platform issue, but we will not pick it up because the ODE staff can’t get us any votes. Also, Mac Court is of supreme importance, students must support that building.
“You both should refrain from using the drinking fountains on campus for a bit.”
Um, I haven’t actually set foot inside Eugene since they handed me my last degree in 2006. I’ll admit your of thinking seems almost rational by Eugene standards, but the air is much clearer out here, to the point where the idea that the Register-Guard has nefariously planted a sports reporter on the Emerald’s board in order to suppress negative coverage of the arena actually looks discernibly ridiculous.
But please, keep talking!
This crazy goes up to 11.
Why not make 10 crazier and make 10 the craziest?
This crazy goes to 11.
Crank up the crazy and yank off the dial … go nike urbanism duk, tell me more!
I’ll tell you what the lead isn’t affecting: my ability to spell.
I know it is not new……the point is that it is their dominant sports writer and ODE has been playing dead on anything regarding scrutiny of sport projects lately. That was not always the case. After Ryan K. left there has been not a word about any of it. You may not see all the info forwarded to the Emerald and how they sit on it like a rotting Duck egg. Lately they even do a bit of arena cheerleading at times. You both should refrain from using the drinking fountains on campus for a bit. The lead may be weighting down your nuerons. Help out with student journalism ?-give me a break . Kind of like J-school Dean Gleason helps out with developing UO as a “hot brand”. Giansante used to do TV sports reporting….now he “helps out” the athletic department.
Oops, sorry, I guess my thorazine dose was too high today. Tomorrow I’ll see the connection!
But obviously they are doing it for some insidious reason involving Nike and athletics, rather than, say, because reporters for the local daily might like to help out with student journalism. Open your eyes!
People from the R-G have fulfilled roles on the Emerald board for many, many years. This isn’t a new concept.
Why isn’t anyone thinking about why the most prominent R.G. sports writer/blogger is doing on the Emerald board ? The R.G. came out of the closet some time ago with a thank you ad listing their paper as a corporate “partner” of Nike and TVA (Nikes primary architect-doing the no-bid arena). This would suggest that the infiltration of the R.G.(which has been obvious) has also spread to the Emerald. My Duck mascot as shadow editor rant was not far off it seems.
The R.G. is slowly dying too. The shared affliction is the lack of good and relevant content. Good content would remove the revenue crisis issue. Who would want to advertise in something they know very few actually bother to read ? If the Emerald actually does shut down I am sure the Duck-industrial-complex will find a way to save the folly called “Game Day”. Charge 25 cents per issue. Eliminate the Emerald bored. Report on the interesting and complicated issues occurring each day. A mysterious new dorm for 70 million ? A opulent and privately designed 20 million dollar segregated athlete learning center on public land ? A alumni center which mysteriously changes it’s site ? A UO student who did her study to preserve Civic stadium ? Kilkenny jumping ship ? The infamous arena revenue projections ? A arena 25% larger for a losing team that cannot even fill Mac ? A indoor track at 18th and University street for 30-40 million ? No sprinklers in many of the dorms ? A library that is the most likely building to collapse on campus in the event of an earthquake ? And then raising the issue of the Commentator’s integrity ? Come on. Meet with the students and community around campus once a month to hear what is happening……..and then “Just Report It”. Back to basics or to the landfill-you decide. And get rid of that silly new Emerald Magazine.
@@@@@Timothy: Twitter was very late to that game. Its real sin is introducing “tweet” to polite conversation.
Thank you guys so much. Didn’t want you to think I didn’t appreciate it. Now I guess we can’t say you’ve never done anything for us.
Also, point of order, twitter has ruined the internet. This is not twitter, please for the love of Zombie Abe Lincoln stop putting that goddamned at symbol everywhere.
I find this whole mess highlarious. There’s nothing about this that isn’t funny, and while $80k isn’t insane by actual newspaper standards it’s a bit comedic as a demand to run a student paper at a mid-level university. You do know that is more than many junior faculty are paid, correct? And not a little more, like twice as much. Granted, the Emerald is an independent company and they can hire/fire/pay who and what they want, but if you’re bleeding money already it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to increase your FTE expenses by $12,000 plus benefits.
I was only joking, naturally. However, there has been a pretty close relationship between the Spokesman Review and the Emerald in recent years. It’s been great for the ODE reporters who graduated three to five years ago. It’s reminiscent of the relationship between the ODE and the Oregonian in past years (no longer, of course, due to the Oregonian’s money woes). I mean, good luck getting a job there — ever.
I wholeheartedly agree with Meghann, too: The situation is as shady as a tree farm. It proves once again that newspapers, the supposedly staunch proponents of transparency, are quite opaque when push comes to shove. In a way, it’s a great learning experience for the editors because that’s how real newspapers operate — not that most of these kids will work at newspapers when they graduate, at the rate the industry is going.
Jared Paben had an excellent post on Steve Smith’s that reflects my view on this fairly well. While Smith’s work on the proposal is certainly to be admired, and his expertise is of course a valuable resource, the proposals he made did, intentionally or not, raise some serious questions about maintaining student autonomy of the newspaper, and there hasn’t been enough evidence as to why they’re necessary.
If there’s a problem with the student editor’s business decision, the board has always had the ability to get rid of them. I’m not convinced transfering that power to the publisher is needed.
I don’t know what went into the decision to go on strike, but I’m glad to think it was more than the logic Tyler applied in his post above, where he said the ODE owes Smith a job because Smith hired so many ODEers. That’s no reason to give anyone a job, and I know Smith would agree with that.
The thing that really steamed me about this whole debacle was j-school prof (excuse me, FORMER, j-school prof, who still has mad ties to the j-school) Kathy Campbell’s post on Steve’s blog basically cheering on the downfall of the campus paper, though I did appreciate her attempt to tone down her language as the criticism mounted.
And just to follow up…
Steve Smith has posted the text of his proposed contract on his blog:
http://www.stillanewspaperman.com/2009/03/04/this-fight-will-go-on-without-me/
(Wayyyyyyy down the comments.)
Relevant clause:
“The publisher is responsible for all hiring within the company with the exception of the editor, who is appointed by the board, and the newsroom staff hired by the editor. In areas of business management, the editor reports to the publisher. However, the publisher does not have and cannot exercise any supervisory control or authority over the editorial content of the Daily Emerald newspaper and its related online and mobile sites.”
Unless I’m missing something, that puts the principle in the right place.
The other details — the proposed salary, the hiring process, who know what when — remain fair game for discussion and dispute, but I’m not sure they merit hitting the mattresses. Then again, I’m late to this party.
Wow… A campus daily showing some balls. That’s pretty sweet. As much as the Ol’ Dirty probably sucks, after reading The OSU Daily Barometer for going on 4 years, I wish we had the Emerald up here.
Well, diversity of opinion.
As much as I may criticize the ODE for some of the stuff they publish, they are right and the Commentator is right to support them.
Keep the classy work up, CJ. It’s awesome.
“In fact, the Commentator was founded in 1983 by two former members of the Daily Emerald with the lofty goal of making campus media coverage and discussion more diverse, more freewheeling and more fun.”
I’m not sure what my dear departed Emerald colleague Mike Rust would say about “diverse”…
But Mike was definitely freewheeling and fun, even if his mind was later addled by neoconservatism. And since he shared editing duties with me on a notorious Emerald satire supplement, I know he would agree that editorial independence is the only reason the Emerald exists.
So keep the issue focused there. My eyebrows hit the ceiling when I heard about the $80k, but that’s a sideshow.
Judy Riedl used to be the GM there, but they board decided not to renew her contract (I think) over the Summer (I’ll have to find my original note from the folks there). Things have gone down since.
But this is a great writeup, and put far more eloquently than my rant this morning.
There is nothing left to save. Over the last two years it has become a publication that makes the Nickel ads seem like pretty good reading. Send the gem called the Emerald down the same rat hole that the OSPIGG is now buried in. That will save more student fees for those darn EMU solar panels and the drunk driving ASUO “safety” shuttle vans.
“Just as it needs a good arts and entertainment magazine like the Oregon Voice. Just as it needs a good radical leftist paper, unlike the Student Insurgent.”
Word.
And, well said C.J.
Doesn’t Judy Riedel sit on the board?
Well said.
I am aware that being on the board of directors is volunteer. I am also aware that the Emerald pays a non-student general manager a 68,000 dollar salary. I’ve also been told that there are three other full time, non-students employed at the Emerald.
It would be foolish to believe that these four people (at least the general manager) do not have a relationship with members on the board. I also find it hard to believe that they were not consulted in regards to hiring a publisher for 5 years. I can only speculate, but I would be willing to bet that the paid administrators have quite a bit of influence over the student staff and the direction of the paper.
Oh an if anyone from the ODE is just hurting to write some hard-hitting or completely intoxicated journalism I, and I believe CJ would agree with me on this one, wish to extend an invite for you to write for the OC. you know you want to….
[…] Oregon Commentator supports us By independentjournalist The Oregon Commentator, of all publications, has come out in support of our strike. You can see the full text of the OC’s editorial here. […]
@Gsim
FYI, the board members are volunteers. They’re not in it for the money. Not that that makes what they’re doing any less fucked up, though.
I don’t mind saying it. If you give the reins of your “student-run” organization to non-students (faculty members and paid administrators) don’t be surprised when they start calling the shots.
For christ sakes, CJ wasn’t told that he couldn’t be on the board of directors of the student newspaper by a student. A journalism professor made the decision. A fine example of being student run.
Looks like to me that the non-student administrators of the Emerald are concerned they are going to loose their cushy quasi-academia jobs because the Emerald is tanking and are now desperately doing whatever they can to guarantee their paychecks.
You see this in the other “student groups” with paid administrators. How can students learn anything about being leaders or organization skills when someone is being paid full time to organize the group? Does anyone really thing that students involved with the MCC get any experience being organizers or leaders when Steve Morozumi is paid 40k a year to be the administrator?
@Lyzi: Heavy metal, Ludacris, and readings from recent Hit and Run postings… 24/7.
#4: TCP becomes ‘Journal of Campus Arts & Events’
Please tell me you guys are going to strike in solidarity. Picket on the second floor of Rennie’s. Anybody who tries to cross the line — ie, leave before closing time — is a scab.
#3: The Oregon Commentator takes over the KWVA airwaves, 24/7.
Smith has been supplying ODE alums with jobs for years. The least the ODE could do is repay the favor.
$80k isn’t much for someone who’s been the Editor-in-Chief of a decent newspaper like the Spokesman Review to ask for. $80k, however, is exorbitant if you’re the ODE.
The bigger problems here are clearly the way in which it went about and the fact that the position could potentially have editorial control.
And while this does indeed seem like a good position for the Commentator to take, I can’t help but point out that:
1. OSPIRG was defunded.
2. The ODE is on strike and could potentially not publish for a few days (if not longer).
An incredibly bad year for OC rivals and foes. What will #3 be? The dissolution of the OLCC?
“Some probably expect us to use this opportunity to snipe at the Emerald or revel in its problems, but the Oregon Commentator fully stands behind the Emerald and its demands.”
Of course, it’s much easier to snipe at someone when you’re standing behind them.
But, yeah, taking a student paper and turning it into some sclerotic mess of consultants and $80k/yr publishers doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If the financial picture really is as bleak as they say, I’d say that salary looks like the first obvious cut.
Irrelevant. The question is: was the salary demand financially feasible for an organization like the ODE that’s already hemorrhaging money?
What’s a similar position pay for another University?
That said, his fee does not seem to be exorbitant.
Erm?
Great write up, CJ. I’m glad to see the OC standing shoulder to shoulder with the ODE.
That said, his fee does not seem to be exorbitant. It’s an increase of $12,000 over, I believe, the general managers (source is Smith’s blog) and was made such so as to prevent Smith from suffering a pay cut.