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
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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.