The Barometer's Amazing Lack of Professionalism

I submitted an op-ed awhile back that, had it been printed, would have run around the 1st or 2nd of November, but neither the Baro or the GT decided to run it. While I am not terribly bothered by the decision - I know the writing could use some work and of course it is the decision of a paper's editorial staff to run submissions or not - I am less than enamored of the way the Baro handled it: They didn't.

As in, I sent it off and apparently addressed it to a black hole. The GT at least had the courtesy to say no.

Anyway, in light of Michael's letter and post as well as Luke's post detailing his own little affair with the Barometer's amazing lack of professionalism this year, I'm going to run what I wrote here:

Barometer Should Have Known Better

The OSU Daily Barometer's admission that they need to do better when it comes to listening to the OSU campus (see The Daily Barometer, “Examining Offenses,” 10-26-07) is too little and too late.

Every couple of years the Barometer runs something incredibly offensive or ignorant, often around race or religion; rarely do they actually bother to respond to the subsequent outrage or criticisms, often hiding behind the implied claim that they bear zero responsibility for the speech of their columnists.

I'm glad to to see that this time is different, that at least the editorial staff ran a response. However, the failure of the editorial to adequately address the issue suggests a lack of understanding of the nature of the problem, and a problem that outlasts the high-turnover Barometer staff – but not Frank Ragulsky, the Barometer's faculty adviser.

It is my opinion that these sorts of mistakes could easily be avoided if the Barometer's editorial staff had some sort of journalism-oriented diversity or cultural competency training. But they don't. When I served on the Student Media Committee, I pushed for the editorial staff to participate in just this sort of training. But I was rebuffed, and it was obvious that no one, including Mr. Ragulsky, saw such training as beneficial or necessary.

By all accounts, Mr. Ragulsky is an excellent advisor. However, he has been the constant throughout all the incidents that have occurred for a long time, long before I ever came to Corvallis. I find it extremely troubling that he consistently fails to show any interest in educating the staff of a college newspaper about the intersection of journalism and diversity.

Journalists, like everyone else, bring to work with them the sum of their experiences and their values – and are therefore not the neutral or objective actors that ancient media theory hold them to be. It would be nice if the sum of their experiences included some awareness that would allow them to avoid the sorts of mistakes that seem to occur with a disturbing regularity.

So I propose three things, hoping they will provide long-term solutions:

First, that Mr. Ragulsky personally endeavor to have his staff participate in some form of training that addresses the intersection of journalism and diversity at least once every year.

Second, that the Student Media Committee take a more active role in overseeing the newspaper. As it stands, the committee is largely a rubber stamp, having little to no role beyond hiring for a mere seven positions for all of student media. Instead, the Committee members should have unfettered access to information, giving them them the ability to decide for themselves what information is relevant. As it stands, Mr. Ragulsky tends to control the flow of information to such a degree that it forces committee members to do his bidding.

Third, that The Daily Barometer institute a public editor to write columns detailing the internal decision-making processes of the newspaper, as well as receiving and responding to reader criticism of the newspaper. Such a position could provide a wonderful training tool for journalists and editors at a university with no official journalism program.

I suggest these things out of frustration and sadness at seeing a paper I have long been enamored of continue to make offensive, avoidable mistakes no matter who fulfills the role of editor-in-chief. I would like nothing more than to see The Daily Barometer take a more active role as a member of the OSU community rather than hide beyond decades-old ideas about the proper behavior of journalists.