It's not, "How do you feel about being replaced?" Or, "Which candidate do you like?"
It's, "So what happened with that sex-on-campus story?"
As I documented last Friday, the journalism professor on the search committee asked all three finalists about a January 2007 man-on-the-street interview titled, "Where's the craziest place you've had sex on campus?"
Professor Bob Bailyn wanted to know how each finalist would have dissuaded the student journalists who pitched that crass idea.
Six things you should know about this...
1. The EIC told me he was planning to do it.
2. I said it was a silly idea that would overshadow everything else good in the issue.
3. He listened (he really did) but after conferring with the other editors, he decided to run it anyway.
4. I repeated my opinion, he repeated his, then we talked about other journalism issues of the day.
5. The issue came out, and the world didn't end.
6. That EIC later won Florida's College Journalist of the Year, now works as a newspaper reporter, and has won at least one statewide award that I'm aware of. (If there's more, I'm sure he'll correct me. He's that kind of guy.)
COMPARE AND COMBAT
When the finalists answered Bailyn's question, it reminded me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. (The UP is Goldilocks in this scenario.)
Too cold...
Dan Mariutto said, "I probably wouldn't have said anything about it directly, period." That's avoiding, not advising.
Just right...
Annie Hammock said, "One of the things you can do as a student media adviser is vet ideas. That's not the same as mandating stories." But at the end of the day, "it's their newspaper."
Too hot...
Michael Douglas – the only candidate left – had the scariest answer: "How come I did not know about it? Is someone slipping things in?" The adviser, he said, "should know exactly what's going into the paper, because it's called checks and balances."
For future stories, Douglas would mandate this: "Who are you going to be interviewing? What's the goal for the story? What facts are you going to use? Go and get a draft and let me see it."
I asked Frank LoMonte, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, for his opinion...
If "knowing everything that's going in there" means nothing more than a voluntary heads-up as a courtesy, then there's nothing wrong with it. If this comment means, "Hey, if I get blindsided by a lurid sex story that I had no idea was being published, then our relationship must be broken and we need to have a talk about better communications," then I agree with that statement. The adviser probably shouldn't get blindsided by the "sex in public" story. But that doesn't mean there can be any repercussions for not telling him, other than the "I'm very disappointed in you, I thought we had a better relationship than that" conversation.
The problem here is that Douglas has very little journalism experience and zero print experience. Yet he clings to the belief that he can advise the UP editors – some who are professionally freelancing and thus have more print experience than he does.
So what happens if EIC Karla Bowsher decides not to consult Douglas? What if she fears he'll try to prevent a story from running? Karla says she asked Douglas about this directly, and he replied he'd do whatever his boss tells him to. (I wasn't there for this exchange, although it's backed up by some other UPers who were present.)
Regardless, Frank LoMonte says the law is clear...
At a public university, the editorial content decisions belong to the student editors, period full stop. The reason the position is called "adviser" and not "executive editor" is that the adviser gives guidance and guidance only. If the students decide they want the adviser to read a story in advance of publication, that’s wonderful, but that’s their discretionary decision. This isn’t just a matter of First Amendment law, it’s a matter of standard professional practice at a university-level institution. The editors are adults, and they’re old enough to be trusted to sign contracts, get married, join the military and otherwise be treated as adults in the eyes of the law, and they’re certainly old enough to decide what stories to publish in a college newspaper.
That's backed up by Sally Renaud, president of College Media Advisers, the umbrella organization for newspaper, yearbook, and broadcast advisers nationwide...
Advisers should not be reviewing the work of students prior to publication, unless students seek their advice. The work of the student media should be done by students.
A BROADCAST COMPROMISE
So hiring Douglas would be a disaster for the UP. But if the TV and radio managers like him, here's my solution: Hire Douglas only for them.
When I was fired, student media director Marti Harvey announced that my replacement would focus on broadcast...
We are devoting some time to moving Owl TV and Owl Radio forward with some initiatives that they have, and that's what this initial person will do. They will also have some input into advising at the UP.
If the broadcasters like Douglas as much as the print journalists don't, then why not make him the full-time broadcast adviser?
TOMORROW: What the search committee decided today.
