Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1995)
EDITORIAL Survey provides revealing data In tho newspaper business it is always an advantage to know your reader. At the Oregon Daily Emerald we have had tho chant e to got to know some of our readers real ly' well from letters and commentaries. But what we, in the newsroom, wore interested in was finding out about our other readers — the silent majority. Riley Sr Associates, Inc. conducted the* survey in November The firm surveyed 375 people who lived within a mile of the University. Most of the information from surveys, in general, comes in the form of averages. So we ll get those out of tho way first. The "average" Emerald reader is a male undergraduate who drives a car. drinks coffee on a daily basis 25 pen ent of the time, buys groceries once a week at the Safeway on Baal 18th Avenue and shops at Val ley Kivor Center On average people read the advertisements and tho crossword puzzles more often than any othei section of the paper. Of course we already knew that. Nothing gen erates more letters than leaving out tho crossword puz zle. Tho section that was widely read was the editorial page. We could take this information one of two ways: Either you think wo do a pretty good job on editorials or you think tho edits are pretty weak and jus! read thorn for entertainment value. Or, a third possibility is that you just love our columnists. We know that tho third possibility is not true because we had one respondent who wanted to hang up Brian Womack by his toenails. (As a side note, ho was thrilled with the comment.) The comment about Womack was in one of the appendixes at the back of tho survey, which brings us to tho most interesting part of tho survey. Each appendix listed some of the more unconventional responses to the questions asked. Some of these unconventional respons es were mentioned by as many as 15 people while oth ers were mentioned by only one person. Among the most frequent responses was that we don't have enough national and international news and that wo don't have enough campus news. Other people want ed more sports coverage, while still others wanted less sports coverage. One person wanted us to be moro inde pendent of the University administration, another said we should let professors write the articles and someone else said we should devote an entire page to the stock market. Ahhhhbhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!)!! Wo commissioned this survey for our ad staff. They wanted to be able to show potential advertisers what they would gain by advertising in the Emerald, it did much more than that though. This survey has given us a glimpse into the hearts and minds of our readers. Though we will not be able to implement all of those suggestions, we thank those of you who participated in the survey. Oregon Daily *0 KOI Jtw !iX4M G**GO* the (Vapon ,'W, l marati a pubfcihed ctofy WvxJi*. Hwsugr ^nda*v Amro the ychoot ye*i *'«> tuaydey »n<l Ihu'tday during tf># by !h* (Sagan 0«i>y EmeraM (V**yhma Q*,„ Inc. «l ra UwH) ot Oregon. l opera Oregon The Immtta operetta ndependanOy J the Ihwvf, *»t o'Seal m Suto 300 ot Pa t it Memorvai Urwn and a a member erf ea Aaenoaied bra** The f marettry pnvata property the urMeoSa removal or uH o' papery a prcaacuUfcte by lea Ednor-4n-Chie< K#v Soto —0*9^0 l tutor Editorial Editor Mm Art Editor frtdinci Editor ntn) INK" HctM Himi I'lW, Lon fteWHXM*. n*m i«n IVO>U [«oi (dN» IWWMttoHI On Mx; No* Lor. Bhotw*i tHociM Ednor* !«Mf Smart lievwmw* V t**ma« Uaow* tdaonfc CommunBy. TUtany Srrvlh. I*^vr EdUcaaon Atpmnaaaaon Ham* Btatt S»n Kttnjiy Amy CoAumeo, Pol Oaf, Amy t (Vamryxxi Pnmo f antana. Gay*# f orman Chn*ver*» Fo*. Man Garton Gary G>au Jo# Hanoood. An* Marry, T,a#» Aaarnay Shannon A*Ju«. Adam Arena. Suyarn* Marta Mark McTy»a. Ban Moatvu*. Hataam Mannar Am# Mom. Aorntaw, CoAoan Pchag. Shany Runty Aala S/AiCum PavJ Van SKMA Am Watt*. Brian Mmat QanaraF Man agar Judy Hal Adrartiirng Oracle. Ma». yVartw Production Managar Mcraw Boa* Adaarlidng Anna Amador. Amt* >uv. Ma.cn Clung, tony Fort Em Martha* Neraa Mar/mam Jaramy Muon. Sarah «tw Tom Mttm.iar.r- Aauay A'aaa* Claa*m*d IV.., Ma>cham. AAnajm Ay4a Uav*i Jo* SaBan WstrttxiUon: John long. f arant rtaAoch Magna /»u*r>* Bu*in*** A**nyC.*rt»«o. v. mi.i Jocl> Ct-rve , production Pa»a«Au*ti F’-ildUtiurt OMnanaAv Shari* AM* Tai Uautnay Brad Jo**, Jarvvtar Fkoiand. Oay*on Vaa Mawiroom Dr.piay Advtrtidng ..., JAA17V2 Buaina** Clave# 14A-5512 Claaaitiad AdwarVklng 14*4141 Vou. can't balance the bucket on the backs of **»{{ j*v# I OlKf JWf Wtvj TW£ee W£ A#r fwouGH to MAW Of VOU /&AL A «f md fii/D6£ T ON AWWAV A VW'U. DISCOVER . m OPINION Media not to blame for problems Pm i . V \n Sit m j very where I turn, some one’s blaming the madia. If JL—Ithev're not being derided for their glorification of vio lence. they’re being blamed because () J Simpson won't get a fair trial. Maybe it’s because I'm training for a career in "the media." but I can't help thinking how this blaming of the media is a little out of hand I would like to address this issue of the word “media’’ before 1 go any further An over ly abused term, it generally refers to all kinds of publica tions designed for public con sumption that includes The ,V™ Republic* Weekly World Sen s. and The Akm York Times It also includes Hard Copy The word also tends to indicate films, broadcast news programs and even The Liinbaiigh Letter. When people use the term media. 1 don’t think they often understand all the people they implicate when they say they're being unfair or impartial Some of those mediums aren't oblig ated to he impartial. Rut let's move along under the assump tion that when an average Amer ican uses the term media, he or she is referring to the newspaper and news magazine press For example, when someone says "The media are just trying to sell more newspapers.” or “The media glorify violence so." I can't help hut think of how this reflects on that person's igno rance Yes. newspapers try to sell copies of its publication, and yes. broadcast news shows a lot of violence on television It ’s not as if we have a peaceful soci ety full of understanding and caring for others The media are trying only to tell us about it It's I heir (oh That's right. I said, it's their job. Newspapers put shoc king sto ries on the' front page* bar: a use* they want people to buy it A newspaper is a business, like any other It ties to make enough money in order to (.over its costs and c ontinue publishing. I know that doesn't necessari ly make it OK. but let's also con sider the diffic ulties in trying to sell a printed-on paper-reading intensive medium to the Ameri can of the ‘90s. The vast majority of newspa pers in this country, believe it or not. is dedicated to impartiality and a certain amount of social morality Sure, there are these publications called "the tabloid press." but we assume a c ertain level of awareness on the part of the public to know that it is these publications' purpose to invent stones dial will grab your attention. That may be the newspaper's only fault: that it has to make money And it does make mon ey That means, people buy those newspapers with lurid and shocking stories on the front (.sages l think the American! pub lic doesn't want to admit that it actually likes reading about vio lence sex. violent crime and so forth A Currvnt Affair continues to prosper on network television with just such stories It wouldn't prosper without rea sonably high ratings, and it wouldn't have high ratings if people didn't watch it Magazines, on the other hand, are rarely obligated to the same level of impartiality. Many mag azines pride themselves on their freedom to publish their opin ion. That's OK; they make their money that way. But for some people, that isn’t good enough. For example, a certain right-wing talk show host loves to complain about the "liberal media " And he says it as if the media have only recent ly become leftist The reality is that the new spaper has always attempted to he a catalyst for Americans love to blame someone else for their problems I he media are such an easy target because of the nebulous nature of the word change. Even in ihe lHOOs, when many newspapers were still par tisan. and most politicians were Republican, one of the newspa per's main missions was to move towards political change and improvement. So. if the media are liberal, it isn't a new thing. I.imhnugh must have known that before he went into broadcasting. But that's OK That's how' he makes his money. Americans love to blame someone els*; for their problems. The media are such an easy tar get because of the nebulous nature of the word. Nobody knows just at whom that blame is living aimed. Vet. we also fad to remember the freedoms we have granted the media in this country "Our First Amendment rights" is so often cried in defense so often, it is strange that it is forgotten when it comes to a publication’s opinion. Instead we sc ream, “You're sup posed to lie impartial!" because those opinions don't coincide with our own. So don't blame the media It's probably not their fault O.J Simpson won't get a fair trial, and it's not the reason the Amer ican public likes violence so much, as much as Oliver Stone would like to have us believe. They just try their hardest to bring events to your doorstep and then provide a forum about those events That should be the least we i an expei t of them And if you are going to blame the media, at least try to use another word. Paul Van Sickle is a columnist for the Emerald.
