2008 Woodie Awards
Media Board bad for free speech
Issue date: 3/28/07 Section: Commentary
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Freedom of Speech
Here in America, we often take it for granted that we have freedom of speech. It is listed in the first amendment and has been for as long as we remember. At Southwest Minnesota State University, we often live our lives between the cornfields and hidden from issues that seem far away and long ago. But the reality is, we are facing an issue regarding our freedom of speech right here and now and we have the right to decide its outcome soon. This April 3-5, actually.
The media board threatens this right
It is then that student government elections will give us the power to choose our representatives as well as vote directly on an amendment to drop the student media board from our constitution.
The media board is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the media organizations on campus, specifically KSSU and the Spur. Although the board remains on the constitution, it has been inactive for over a decade, has many flaws in its constitution that could result in legal problems and is, overall, unnecessary.
"There is no need for a Media Board. The campus media is protected and regulated by the First Amendment, the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory policies," said Jan Loft, advisor of KSSU.
The board is supposed to consist of five lay members, who are not members of the organizations or their advisors. This make-up goes against normal recommendations, which suggest involving lay and expert faculty, administrators, alumni and current editors among other informed persons. Since the current media board does not include these people, it risks forcing people to make decisions on subjects which they are not interested in or informed about, and often do not have the time to research. If a media board were to meet, the student editors should, at the least, have the right to select a couple of the board's members.
Unclear and unconstitutional duties
In addition to the board's makeup, there are several issues with its duties, which are unclear at best.
"It's never been made clear to me just what a Media Board would do, just exactly what they would supervise or oversee," Loft said.
The media board's constitution gives them the authority to "develop and implement procedures for the selection and evaluation of student editors and managers." Currently, the advisor of Radio/TV selects their editors and the Spur staff votes on their editors. Both ways give the people who know the candidates and the necessary qualities for these positions the power to fill them. This is the way that it should be.
Another section of the constitution gives the board the duty to "assume the responsibility of publishing and broadcasting University-approved student publications and broadcasts to ensure that each medium has an appropriate advisor." Again, this duty is superfluous and vague. This seemingly places the huge responsibility of publication on the media board, a responsibility that should have nothing to do with them. If it were to be the case, the media board and the student body would be accountable for the content, and any legal suits against the newspaper. This responsibility should fall solely on the editors, who are specifically trained in media law.
Other unnecessary responsibilities of the media board would include that of overseeing the budget and developing procedures for media name changes. The media organizations already have an organization whose sole purpose is to oversee budgets. It is called SAFAC. This responsibility should not be taken away from them. Finally, the naming of these organizations should reflect their respective wishes. The Spur chose their name because it reflected the wishes of its members. It is ridiculous to think that it should be otherwise.
Perhaps these issues could be fixed to create a more acceptable board, but the fact is that the board is not needed at all.
There is no need for the board
"There's never been any Media Board action on this campus as long as I can remember, at least not any action that affected KSSU-TV or KSSU-FM, and it is difficult to see any reason to revive any function of this Board, whatever it might have been long ago," Loft said.
Ruthe Thompson, advisor of the Spur agrees. Thompson once worked for a school which had an active media board. She found it to be one of the worst experiences she has had at a university, and only stayed there for only one year.
Nationally, there is not a board which oversees newspapers. Although the Federal Communications Commission oversees other forms of media, newspapers maintain the right and responsibility to act on their own. And that is the way that it should be. Because newspapers are held accountable for what they print, they are usually well informed about media issues, such as libel and their responsibilities to portray the truth to the public.
Let us do our job
The Spur is a student run newspaper. Because the writers and editors are still learning, mistakes inevitably occur. But the truth is that no publication is without errors. It is the responsibility of the Spur staff, under the supervision of their advisor, to work to lessen these mistakes and better themselves, not of a media board whose members may or may not be informed about the legality of issues.
A call to eliminate the superfluous board
In order to remove this ineffective and unnecessary board from the constitution once and for all, we need your help. An amendment in the constitution requires ten percent of the student body to vote. From the students who vote, it requires a simple majority, or at least 51 percent of the votes to amend the constitution. Now is the time to once again take up the issue of free speech and make it a reality around us.
Here in America, we often take it for granted that we have freedom of speech. It is listed in the first amendment and has been for as long as we remember. At Southwest Minnesota State University, we often live our lives between the cornfields and hidden from issues that seem far away and long ago. But the reality is, we are facing an issue regarding our freedom of speech right here and now and we have the right to decide its outcome soon. This April 3-5, actually.
The media board threatens this right
It is then that student government elections will give us the power to choose our representatives as well as vote directly on an amendment to drop the student media board from our constitution.
The media board is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the media organizations on campus, specifically KSSU and the Spur. Although the board remains on the constitution, it has been inactive for over a decade, has many flaws in its constitution that could result in legal problems and is, overall, unnecessary.
"There is no need for a Media Board. The campus media is protected and regulated by the First Amendment, the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory policies," said Jan Loft, advisor of KSSU.
The board is supposed to consist of five lay members, who are not members of the organizations or their advisors. This make-up goes against normal recommendations, which suggest involving lay and expert faculty, administrators, alumni and current editors among other informed persons. Since the current media board does not include these people, it risks forcing people to make decisions on subjects which they are not interested in or informed about, and often do not have the time to research. If a media board were to meet, the student editors should, at the least, have the right to select a couple of the board's members.
Unclear and unconstitutional duties
In addition to the board's makeup, there are several issues with its duties, which are unclear at best.
"It's never been made clear to me just what a Media Board would do, just exactly what they would supervise or oversee," Loft said.
The media board's constitution gives them the authority to "develop and implement procedures for the selection and evaluation of student editors and managers." Currently, the advisor of Radio/TV selects their editors and the Spur staff votes on their editors. Both ways give the people who know the candidates and the necessary qualities for these positions the power to fill them. This is the way that it should be.
Another section of the constitution gives the board the duty to "assume the responsibility of publishing and broadcasting University-approved student publications and broadcasts to ensure that each medium has an appropriate advisor." Again, this duty is superfluous and vague. This seemingly places the huge responsibility of publication on the media board, a responsibility that should have nothing to do with them. If it were to be the case, the media board and the student body would be accountable for the content, and any legal suits against the newspaper. This responsibility should fall solely on the editors, who are specifically trained in media law.
Other unnecessary responsibilities of the media board would include that of overseeing the budget and developing procedures for media name changes. The media organizations already have an organization whose sole purpose is to oversee budgets. It is called SAFAC. This responsibility should not be taken away from them. Finally, the naming of these organizations should reflect their respective wishes. The Spur chose their name because it reflected the wishes of its members. It is ridiculous to think that it should be otherwise.
Perhaps these issues could be fixed to create a more acceptable board, but the fact is that the board is not needed at all.
There is no need for the board
"There's never been any Media Board action on this campus as long as I can remember, at least not any action that affected KSSU-TV or KSSU-FM, and it is difficult to see any reason to revive any function of this Board, whatever it might have been long ago," Loft said.
Ruthe Thompson, advisor of the Spur agrees. Thompson once worked for a school which had an active media board. She found it to be one of the worst experiences she has had at a university, and only stayed there for only one year.
Nationally, there is not a board which oversees newspapers. Although the Federal Communications Commission oversees other forms of media, newspapers maintain the right and responsibility to act on their own. And that is the way that it should be. Because newspapers are held accountable for what they print, they are usually well informed about media issues, such as libel and their responsibilities to portray the truth to the public.
Let us do our job
The Spur is a student run newspaper. Because the writers and editors are still learning, mistakes inevitably occur. But the truth is that no publication is without errors. It is the responsibility of the Spur staff, under the supervision of their advisor, to work to lessen these mistakes and better themselves, not of a media board whose members may or may not be informed about the legality of issues.
A call to eliminate the superfluous board
In order to remove this ineffective and unnecessary board from the constitution once and for all, we need your help. An amendment in the constitution requires ten percent of the student body to vote. From the students who vote, it requires a simple majority, or at least 51 percent of the votes to amend the constitution. Now is the time to once again take up the issue of free speech and make it a reality around us.
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