Letter to Faculty from School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Paul Voakes

Dear Colleagues,

I had a frank 90-minute meeting with five editors of the Campus Press this morning, and I want to share with you some “next steps.”

We were joined in this meeting by CU-Boulder Spokesperson Bronson Hilliard, Campus Press Manager Amy Herdy, and SJMC Diversity Coordinator Dave Martinez.

As you no doubt have learned by now, the student editors believed that Max Karson’s piece on Asians on campus was a piece of satire.  Once they realized that most readers either didn’t see the satire at all or saw the satire and found it in poor taste, they have apologized publicly.  They apologized again this morning in this meeting, as did Amy. 

I told them basically what I’ve been saying in the media for the last 24 hours.

• After a discussion in which each student and Amy expressed feelings, opinions and explanations, we worked out a number of measures for the Campus Press that I hope will preclude such editing lapses in the future.
• Beginning immediately, The Campus Press will provide enhanced coverage on the campus controversy the paper has sparked, which will include an open forum for commentary on the issue, for as many days as are warranted by ongoing reader interest.
• The Campus Press will work with SJMC Diversity Coordinator Dave Martinez to establish a Student Diversity Advisory Board, composed of non-journalism-majors who represent a broad swath of interests on the campus. The board’s purpose will be to provide editors with regular feedback from students with a diversity of backgrounds.
• The Campus Press will invite a number of student organizations to meet face-to-face with the editors, to discuss any specific concerns.
• The Campus Press will adopt an Opinions Policy, with standards and procedures for determining the acceptability of opinion columns or other reader-generated content. 
• The Campus Press will schedule a series of diversity awareness workshops for the entire staff, in concert with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement, and with participation of professional journalists of color.
• The Campus Press will schedule a series of workshops for opinion writing and editing, to be presented by experienced professional opinion editors. 

I’d like to reiterate that The Campus Press is the School’s teaching publication, and I believe the events of this week have provided all of us, not just Amy Herdy, with a wealth of “ teachable moments.”  I’d like also to remind you that we have, as one of our faculty agenda items for this semester, a reconsideration of the governance-and-instruction model for The Campus Press.  I look forward to that discussion.  In the meantime, I’m confident that the current crop of editors has begun to develop a new, more nuanced understanding of the delicate balance between absolute free speech and journalistic social responsibility.

And finally, I want to apologize on behalf of the School for the upset that our student publication has created.

Paul
 

*  I.e., as a former opinion editor at a daily newspaper for six years, I believe that opinion editing is one of the most difficult tasks in journalism. Editors must promote a robust and diverse range of viewpoints, but at the same time they must establish a tone for the discourse.  Most professional news organizations have established a tone of civility and respect that reflects the news organization and the communities they intend to serve (and writers who traffic in profanity, racism, etc., have plenty of avenues on the Web).  They ought to especially recognize when an opinion piece is so incendiary in its tone that its intent will be lost on its audience.  Editors ought to be able to anticipate reader reactions to opinion pieces and present, when appropriate, editor’s notes that explain why a particularly controversial piece is being posted.  In such cases editors ought also to either present opposing viewpoints simultaneously or invite opposing viewpoints.  As I was quoted in the Camera this morning, it is my judgment that the student editors “got it wrong.”