It used to be, "How are you holding up, Koretzky?" Now it's, "So what's up with Marti's drug conviction?"
The answer is: I really don't know. FAU isn't talking. But some students are.
Student media director Marti Harvey refused to comment during her brief interview with UP editors Friday morning. And she made no mention of my blog or the editor's when we saw her that afternoon.
(Marti came to the last 10 minutes of the editors' meeting to briefly critique the latest issue, which she did not like, then sat through half our staff meeting and left.)
But on their own, some students have rushed to her defense – while others are graphically depicting her offense.
Yesterday, the campus TV manager posted a statement on his station's Facebook page that supports Marti and expresses "complete confidence in her qualifications."
It also included this...
OwlTV sympathizes with the discontent which has been publicized by leaders of the University Press, however we do not support the manner in which they have carried out their protestations.
I don't know how it works at other universities, but here at FAU, the newspaper and TV station barely and rarely get along. The feud is all about journalism.
OwlTV doesn't cover news. When it does so by accident – recording footage that embarrasses FAU or Student Government – it erases that footage. The first time was in 2005, when SG officials were caught on tape violating their own election rules. The last time was in January 2009, when the FAU basketball coach bumped a referee.
Both times and several in between, the UP editors have begged for those images, offering to post them on the newspaper's website so the TV station wouldn't catch hell for it. Every time, the answer came back the same: It doesn't make FAU look good, so no.
I feel both pity and pride for the UP staffers who are fighting for their rights against not only Student Affairs and Student Government, but also their peers in Student Media. It takes conviction and guts to walk into a Student Union where you have no friends outside your own newsroom. And that's why I'm volunteering as their adviser.
On a lighter note...
Some UPers have started their own independent humor blog. Of course, one man's comedy is another man's blasphemy. And even to a jaded soul like myself, some of their stuff crosses that fine, crooked line.
But I thought yesterday's post had some journalistic merit, since it answers the second-most popular question I've been asked since Friday: How much is 46.6 grams of marijuana, anyway?
TOMORROW: Spoke too soon.
