[AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division list] Newspaper adviser fired for questionable-taste photo

[Everbach, Tracy]

We'll have to agree to disagree. I never said I advocated censorship. But part of the job of the adviser is to critique after the fact. Even the edited version of the column was offensive. I draw the line at content that unnecessarily harms people. This harms women, or "girls," as he calls them. I would feel the same if the column referred to black people, gay people, Jewish people or other groups in offensive ways. I don't know what this adviser did or did not do. I am asking questions like any good journalist.


Tracy Everbach, Ph.D.
Associate professor
214-995-8464-cell
Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle #311460
Denton, TX  76203-5017
________________________________________
From: James B McPherson [jmcpherson at whitworth.edu]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 11:48 AM
To: Everbach, Tracy; JOHN B ZIBLUK; news-list at aejmc.net
Subject: RE: [AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division list] Newspaper adviser  fired for questionable-taste photo

Tracy, I'm glad you agree that the adviser shouldn't have been fired. And whether we "need the full-frontal photo" is irrelevant--unless you agree with the administration's apparent stance that the adviser should dictate content and that the newspaper should act as a PR organ for the university.

As for the previous column, I assume you're referring to the "unedited" version that went viral, not the edited version. That version, which can be found on the newspaper's website (http://theeastcarolinian.com/?p=1138), might be somewhat offensive--but no more so than what can be found numerous student newspapers every week. Or pretty much anything said by Rush Limbaugh, for that matter.

About your comment, "If my students had published something like that when I was a media adviser I would ream them out so badly..." And would you then have thrown the student journalists under the bus by advertising to the broader community how you reacted? After all, I assume you don't know know this adviser's reaction--though the fact that the editors offered an apology that can still be found on the website (seems like pretty responsible behavior to me) suggests that he may have offered meaningful input.

As for the "quality" of the newspaper, I suggest you read it for yourself and then judge. The best piece I've seen relevant to this case (a piece that notes the several Pulitzer Prize winners who graduated from ECU) can be found here: http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2012/01/05/university-wrong-to-fire-student-paper-adviser-over-photo-of-nude-streaker/.


James McPherson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Communication Studies
Adviser of The Whitworthian
Whitworth University
Spokane, WA 99251
blog: jmcpherson.wordpress.com
Latest book: The Conservative Resurgence and the Press: The Media's Role in the Rise of the Right



________________________________________
From: news-list-bounces at aejmc.net [news-list-bounces at aejmc.net] on behalf of Everbach, Tracy [everbach at unt.edu]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 7:16 AM
To: JOHN B ZIBLUK; news-list at aejmc.net
Subject: Re: [AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division list] Newspaper adviser  fired for questionable-taste photo

I agree that it is wrong to fire the adviser over this. Still, did we need the full-frontal photo? The message could have been accomplished without publishing that one.

Also, did you read that column from the previous semester about birth control, or whatever it was supposed to be about? If my students had published something like that when I was a media adviser I would ream them out so badly that they would never consider publishing anything remotely like that again. Sounds to me like these students thought they were publishing some kind of poor-quality alt-weekly meant to shock instead of a college newspaper Someone needed to reel them in. The adviser was not doing his job if they thought publishing that kind of crap was OK. Students have a social responsibility, just like the rest of the press.


Tracy Everbach, Ph.D.
Associate professor
214-995-8464-cell
Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle #311460
Denton, TX  76203-5017
________________________________________
From: news-list-bounces at aejmc.net [news-list-bounces at aejmc.net] on behalf of JOHN B ZIBLUK [JZIBLUK at astate.edu]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 8:16 AM
To: news-list at aejmc.net
Subject: [AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division list] Newspaper adviser      fired for questionable-taste photo

This should be a concern to everybody on a lot of levels.

http://www.splc.org/news/newsflash.asp?id=2311

Jim Romenesko posted the offendng photos:


http://jimromenesko.com/


John B. (Jack) Zibluk, Ph.D.
Professor
Arkansas State University
Department of Journalism
P.O. Box 1930
State University, AR 72467
(H) 870-931-1284
(W) 870-972-3255
(cell) 870-219-3328
________________________________________

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