Media should be unbiased It is likely that, being in the field of journalism, you have at least heard of “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War On Journalism.” I just watched it and our situation seems to be a lot worse than I thought it was. I think it is both appalling and terrifying what Fox News has gotten away with in the last four years.Years ago, when TV first became mainstream, at election time news producers would give each candidate equal time. This does not happen anymore and I think it should be reinstated.I also think that it is unprofessional and counterproductive for news media to take a clear side on an issue. Fox News is most certainly an extreme example of this, but your paper is guilty of the same bias.For example “Campus Times supports candidate X for Student Body President.” Your job as a newspaper is to provide accurate, unbiased information to our university. By your publication, or any publication, taking a side on an election, you are no longer unbiased and hence no longer serving your purpose.Opinion pieces should be allowed in their designated part of the paper, but papers as organizations should not take sides, but rather present accurate, factual information about each candidate. marie hunterClass of 2005
Campaign issues make choice clearTony Scott, as a burgeoning pundit, you’re a discredit to your ilk. Are you implying you haven’t made up your mind about your choice for president? In this, what some call the most polarizing election in history, you’ve cast your lot in with the small slice of fickle undecideds who must have slept through the last four years to not have an opinion two months before the election? And this based on your unhappiness with Kerry’s campaign style? What about issues? You won’t make it far in the blowhard business with this attitude.Still, your conservatism must be inching past your disaffection, as you were quick to rehash plenty of misconceptions that Republicans have been all too happy to perpetuate – Kerry and Edwards can’t win because they are too far left. Since when was John Edwards the most liberal candidate, anyway? I know we’ve already consigned Howard Dean to the scrap heap of history, but still. Besides, I don’t know where you were, but Edwards joining the Kerry team was arguably the biggest boost Kerry has received yet. If he’s a problem, it’s only because he’s disappeared since the Democratic convention, not because he’s too far left. And why does the Republican party get to enact a staggeringly hard-right, socially conservative platform, but Democrats are told they need to move to the center to succeed? Can someone explain this to me?Kerry’s leadership is an issue in this race. OK, fine – let’s put Kerry’s struggle to come up with a position on the war that voters would respond to up against President Bush and his morphing explanations of why we need tax cuts – first to give the surplus back to taxpayers, later to stimulate the economy- and why we needed to invade Iraq – first because Saddam Hussain sought nuclear weapons, later because we would be welcomed with roses. Did I mention that the tax cuts resulted in billions of dollars in deficits while the war resulted in thousands of dead bodies? And doesn’t true leadership mean admitting when you’ve been wrong?Left-leaning organizations such as http://www.moveon.org are a danger to democracy. No, you didn’t say that exactly, but you safely implied that by equating them with fascists. I’ll just mention here that I think it’s safe to say that most impartial observers would put the Bush administration a little closer to 1930s Germany than the progressives at http://www.moveon.org. It’s also curious that you compared them to sheep and Nazis in the same article. Don’t be too embarrassed – a lot of people don’t understand what fascism means.Hey, I’m the first to admit that I don’t like the way Kerry is running his campaign. It might be too late for him to save it. But don’t blame Kerry for bringing up Bush’s record when Bush himself knows better than to run on it without ignoring his failures. And you beg the question yourself – if Kerry is playing down to Bush’s level, how low exactly is that level? Shouldn’t we care? Kerry has done a lousy job enunciating his agenda. Bush has done a lousy job running the country.Peter mcnallyClass of 1999
Events portrayed unfairlyAs members of the Campus Activities Board, UR Cinema Group, UR Concerts and the Outside Speakers Committee, we were offended by the editorial “Quality Lacking” in last week’s Campus Times. Aside from the negative tone of the editorial, many of the facts presented were incorrect. To begin with, most of the events mentioned were planned by our respective student organizations, all of which hold publicized interest meetings open to student input, not by the Student Activities Office. Many of those successful events that you “reminisce” about were in fact just within the past year or two, attesting to the fact that we do actually plan the type of events that you are requesting. We also feel that the numbers represent the success of our events and the efforts we make. Yellowjacket Days, for example, attracted the following crowds – over 800 tickets sold for the Capitol Steps, over 800 tickets sold for URCG’s weekend movies, over 3,000 students for Game Day – an SAO event, over 1,300 Yellow Fever T-shirts distributed, over 2,700 students at the activities fair and over 1,000 fans listening to Enter the Haggis. We find it ironic that on the first two pages of Thursday’s issue you call Enter the Haggis a “favorite” and Capitol Steps “entertaining” when these events were both part of the Yellowjacket Days events that you referred to in the editorial as “lackluster.”Part of the reason for developing a full weekend’s worth of events is to provide students with options from which to pick and chose. WinterFest, for example – a CAB event, annually provides a series of packed events. Last year, Mitch Hedberg performed to a sold-out crowd, and more than 1,000 people attended Casino Night – co-sponsored with Class Councils – and the Masquerade Ball. Many other of our events in the past years have been equally successful, including the Annual Boar’s Head Dinner, Guster, Ralph Nader and Michael Moore.As the four main programming boards on campus, we try our best to satisfy students’ interests and provide ample opportunities for entertainment. One thing that needs to be considered is that we have a responsibility to cater to the diverse wants of the campus community and to provide low cost or free entertainment to students. We compromise by bringing a mix of big name and smaller- scale programs to campus throughout the year.If the CT has a problem with the acts that come to campus, they should do a little research before making assumptions. There are major constraints on the booking of events and for reasons completely out of our hands we are unable to get our first, second, third or even fourth choices for bands. We are a campus of 4,000 undergraduates that competes directly with hundreds of other schools that often have 10 times the number of students for the exact same acts. It should come as no surprise that our ability to get the best performers is usually a hit-or-miss endeavor. The answer is that performers get a flat rate no matter how big our campus is, or how many seats our venue can hold. We don’t have a large enough venue to make up the cost of the performer with ticket sales, and we don’t have enough money coming in through the budget to make up for it. On Dandelion Day, for example, we have limited funding and probably 10 volunteers to manage a crowd of 3,000+ people. How can we be compared to Cornell, which receives hundreds of volunteers, administrative support and a quarter of a million dollars to plan their Slope Day?The main reason that acts have been watered down somewhat over the last 10 or so years is because the SA has shifted from having 15-20 groups, to now having well over 200 groups. Why doesn’t the CT stand up and take a real stand. Should we start cutting groups and their funding so that we can have bigger conce
rts? The editors of the CT believe that students would rather have a few really big events instead of a ton of tiny events. Well, maybe their ridicule should start being pointed to the 190 smaller groups on campus and their 3000+ members that throw the smallest events.It is not the position of the event planning groups that the events of these groups should be eliminated – we value programs that provide variety and expose students to new things. We are left to wonder if that is the position of the CT though. We feel that the editorial board of the CT has been very reckless with this editorial. It is important to be attentive to what the real implications of their position mean.We also agree that CCC needs to be improved to be a more valuable advertising tool. However, the idea of a monthly or weekly calendar was brought up at the fall leadership conference at the beginning of this semester and the SAO was very receptive to the idea. In response to other claims in the editorial, we are very open to feedback after events and are always working at modifying our programs. The groups sponsoring each event are prominently highlighted on posters and notices advertising the event, and our membership meetings and e-mail addresses are posted on CCC for anyone who has a suggestion or complaint. We welcome to our meetings anyone who might like to play a larger role in bringing their type of entertainment to campus and would support them in their endeavors if we can.CAB, URCG, UR Concerts and OSC are made up of a group of dedicated, hard-working people who receive little reward for all their time and effort. We do not appreciate editorials that make assumptions without having done any research into possible explanations. Good journalism and good editorials are informed. The lack of preliminary research and consideration given to the hardworking groups you are speaking of demonstrates the credibility of your reporting.With regards,anna lessengerCampus Activities Boardmona kodaUR Cinema Groupchris skeehanUR ConcertsDan bromfieldExternal ChairOutside Speakers Committeepatrick brennanInternal ChairpersonOutside Speakers CommitteeFacts need to be examinedThe Campus Times editorial claiming that Yellowjacket Weekend was poorly planned and of low quality came as a complete surprise to us in the Student Activites Office. All evaluative measures, including numbers in attendance and feedback, indicated that the weekend was a major success. We offer the following facts on the weekend and ask students and other UR community members to respond to us at http://www.sao.rochester.edu to let us know their thoughts on Yellowjacket Weekend.Fiction – Students don’t come together for fun on this campus, and a lackluster weekend was planned.Fact – Convocation was packed with standing room only. -The activities fair had thousands of students throughout the entire time.- Capitol Steps was only a few seats from a sell-out – a national comedy act that was a major feat to get in a presidential election year.- The vendors at Game Day festivities said this was the best-attended Yellowjacket Weekend in past history.- Students loved the cheap food of Uncle Dicky’s, donuts and ice cream, subsidized by SAO.- Class Councils gave out over 1,200 Yellow Fever shirts to students who won games.- Fauver Stadium was filled with students wearing Yellow Fever shirts.- Many people attended the soccer games Friday night and Saturday afternoon.- Hundreds of students went to Jillian’s in the evening through Fashionably Late.- Cinema Group had sell-out movies that weekend.- Black Student’s Union’s Blackout was very well attended.Fiction – SAO events have poor publicityFact – The Yellowjacket Weekend poster was a large 18×24 full color poster hand-distributed to every RA, D’Lion and Freshman Fellow. Public Relations office sent a press release, the SAO paid for an ad in the CT, there was an article in Currents and the UR Forum, the event was listed on the SAO website and CCC calendar and an e-mail sent to every student through the College.Fiction – Exciting bands that students like help create a good event.Fact – The CT itself featured a picture of Enter the Haggis, a band that played for free on the steps of Wilson Commons. The paper noted it was a returning favorite and there were lots of people enjoying the band on Saturday.Fiction – The SAO relies heavily on student government and class council members to provide feedback about events.Fact – SAO coordinated and co-sponsored Yellowjacket Weekend with many different groups – including Class Councils, SA Government, UR Concerts, Campus Activities Board, BSU, Cinema Group, RAs, Residential Life, Athletics and 175 SA group leaders. Who did the CT talk to about their editorial?We understand the importance of quality speakers and entertainment. We have worked with student organizations over the summer, who are bringing major acts this fall, all of whom they chose, including Train, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dennis Miller. Weekends can build community without star power as shown by the numerous students who attended Yellowjacket Weekend and its programs. Again, we will take criticism when it is due, but from the positive comments we have received – from staff and students who said it was the best Yellowjacket Weekend ever – the event was successful. Please send feedback to http://www.sao.rochester.edu and let us know your thoughts.Wilson Commons Student activities Office anne-marie algier Directorlaura ballou Assistant Directorgeorge morrison Assistant Director melissia schmidtAssistant Director
