Why, Daily Barometer, Why?

I have never, ever been angrier when composing a blog post.

Thank god there's a purring kitty on my lap to remind me that there is some unqualified good in the world.

So.

I have not been reading the Daily Barometer lately. I tried subscribing to their RSS feed, but I didn't like the formatting, and I guess I've just been lax in checking their website (which, this year, hasn't been near as good as the paper edition, which might be a contributing factor).

This evening, having just got home, I sat down to check my RSS feed before bed. [Yes, I do that. Every night.]

I found this post by Eric Stoller, which led me to this story on the Daily Barometer website. [Note: The story is 2.5 weeks old at this point. Also, what happened to the Barometer's comment section? I'm sure it would be on fire over this one.]

I don't know what to say. I am so angry I want to scream and scream and scream until I'm hoarse. I want to head down to the Baro offices first thing tomorrow and demand an answer from the editor and advisor as to how they could be so stupid (knowing full well they did not create the event, but also that the story they approved to run was atrocious). But I know neither option is very productive, and instead I will try and find some words, because that is the path I have chosen.

I would urge you to go read the column by Renee Roman Nose on this topic, kindly posted by Eric (and if I get permission from Renee, I will repost it on this website as well). As Eric reports, it supposedly got her banned from the editorial page.

First thing first: As I noted above, the Barometer did not create the event. This is obvious. However, in choosing to report the story in the way they did, the Barometer (and I am not naming names because the story should have been checked by the writer and at least two editors) served to support this very racist idea, which should be unconscionable for a newspaper.

Not doing any research or devoting any space to the history of blackface or why this might be a bad idea reeks of 1950s collegiate "journalism" - you know, the kind that shamed students into attending sporting events and "school spirit" rallies? Yeah. That kind of "journalism" belongs in the trash can of history (though I would not be surprised if the Baro's advisor was trying to dig it out).

It would have taken fifteen fucking seconds to google or wikipedia 'blackface' and realize the implications of this idea. It would have taken a few more minutes to add in a few paragraphs of information pointing out the standing objections to blackface, which would have at least given the article the cover of the weak standard of 'balance'.

It would have taken anyone that read this story before publishing having been through any sort of diversity training, class, seminar, etc. to realize this was a bad idea. [Side note: The Baro has resisted doing anything like that for years - I'd guess a decade at this point, and it's really showed in the last five or so years.]

But the Baro printed the story. That was done.

Then Renee Roman Nose, a Barometer columnist who often writes about race, wrote a column in response.

She wrote it, but it never got published, and she has supposedly been banned from the editorial page.

When I heard that, I thought to myself, wow, that must have been one nasty column, full of attacks on the newspaper or the fans or something.

I got the chance to read it, thanks to Renee and Eric Stoller, who reprinted it on his site.

Turns out it's pretty fucking tame compared to what could have been said about the paper and the people pushing this idea.

These are the meanest lines I could find:

I don’t understand how a collegiate paper can print something so offensive on their front page, or any page for that matter!...On behalf of myself, since I do not speak on behalf of the Daily Barometer (read disclaimer below) I would like to sincerely apologize to every Black student, staff, and faculty member, as well as any community member, who may have been offended by reading Friday’s edition and seeing the accompanying photo of a white male in blackface. I would also like to apologize to those of you who are not Black and were also offended.

Yup. That Renee Roman Nose, always so harsh. COME ON. Does anyone else remember Nathanael Blake attacking the Barometer from the pages of his pet newsapaper while he attacked anything that wasn't a rich white man from the editorial page of the Barometer? That was OK but this column isn't?

There must be something else going on. There is no visible reason to ban someone from the editorial page over the column posted on Eric's blog. And Renee very clearly stated that she was apologizing on behalf of herself, not on behalf of the paper.

Word has it that Roman Nose will be meeting with the Student Media Committee at some point over this (perhaps she has met with them already; I am not sure). In that case, maybe the ban is temporary barring her meeting. That would make more sense.

In any case, the Barometer needs to get its shit together. I remember the paper being named "best in the nation" in its category around the turn of the century. You know it's fallen a long way when a picture of a student in blackface makes the front page - and it's in support of the idea.

Once, the Baro reported on the stupid things OSU students are apt to do (kidnap gay sheep, shoot at homeless people, etc.). Now it commits the stupid acts.

It's sad, really.

I will post on this more as I get more information.