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California dreamin’
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
- The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
- The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
- The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
- Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
- Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)
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Following the decision last week by the University of Southern California's administration to bar the student newspaper from re-electing the incumbent editor in chief, nearly 20 student newspapers nationwide chimed in yesterday with a judgment leaning decidedly toward outrage. The Harvard Crimson spearheaded the campaign, saying the administration should not meddle with the politics of The Daily Trojan and blasting USC for the decision.
Though the Crimson is right that USC should try to allow the student newspaper to function independently, the school is a private university and partially funds the Trojan — they have every right to meddle.
The USC administration has said Mr. Fox was denied re-election due the content of his application. The Los Angeles Times added Mr. Fox proposed several changes he'd like to make to the editor in chief position, saying he would spend less time managing the paper day-to-day and more time improving the paper's website and staff training.
While we respect Mr. Fox's efforts to improve the paper, USC doesn't deserve such a negative rap. As a student newspaper with clear ties to the university, The Daily Trojan's affairs undoubtedly fall under the university's discretion. And though we by no means encourage intrusion, it is important to remember the changes Mr. Fox proposed were not minor.
Changes to the role of the paper's top editor — away from the traditional tenets of the position — are certainly something the university had reason to question. So long as a university uses discretion in such instances and recognizes the undeniable benefits student journalists accrue when the administration maintains a hands-off policy, occasional interference when the situation warrants it is justifiable.
Of course, there is one way to ensure the administration cannot interfere with the decisions a student paper makes. Student papers must strive to become independent, both financially and editorially, from the universities they cover; to do otherwise is to ensure both interference and influence from those they ultimately report to — and on.
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I would like to commend your editorial board for thinking about this situation critically and for not jumping on the bandwagon. I would, however, like to point out that -- regardless of the university's role as the DT's publisher -- editorial independence from the university must be defended vigorously, or else we risk the chance of slipping to nothing more than a university mouthpiece.
-Zach Fox