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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
I
Is media
coverage of
school
shootings
perpetuating
the problem?
And if it is,
how do we stop
the cycle of
coverage?
It seemed like things were wind
ing down.
There were 11 issues left of the
Emerald for spring term as of
Thursday, and we were beginning to
feel like the year was easing to a
close.
And then all hell broke loose. The
radio stations started reporting shots
fired at Thurston High School, possi
ble fatalities and many injured. On
my way to the office, I started won
dering how on earth we were going to
cover this and how we could do it ap
Sarah
Kickler
propnateiy. My
mind was swim
ming.
Why would
someone do some
thing like that, and
why did it keep
happening over
and over again?
Within the last few
months, it seemed
like a couple of
magazine covers a
month were telling of the Southern
gun culture and kids screaming for
attention.
But attention is exactly what the
kids were getting. Think about it. •
What message have the media been
sending to kids with the coverage of
these previous incidents? We’re
telling kids that if you feel like you
have some problems and you are be
ing ignored, pull out a gun and mow
some of your schoolmates down and
we will give you more attention than
you’ve ever dreamed of. We’ll splash
your faces on the cover of Newsweek,
Time and U.S. News and World Re
port and analyze the hell out of you.
We’ll
find answers
to your every
problem. Maybe
there were too
many guns in the house.
Maybe you needed counseling.
Maybe there weren’t enough re
sources at your school.
But what answer never comes up?
No one ever says, “Maybe the kid saw
all the coverage we gave the last gun
toting kid and thought, ‘Hey, I could
do that.’” Or maybe people do say
that, and the media ignore it, think
ing, “We don’t have that much of an
effect; we’re just telling people what
happened.”
I’m not laying the blame for Kip
Kinkel’s alleged actions on the media
or anyone else; I don't think we will
ever know what the catalyst was. I’m
just suggesting that we might want to
put a little more thought into the pos
sible ramifications of coverage. Peo
ple are more affected by media im
ages than we assume, and I think we
have entered a huge web of catch
228.
More kids have been shooting
classmates in school, and the media
have covered each of these events.
But what if the media coverage has
been causing some of these events?
Then have the media been covering
or creating the news?
Many
people in
the Emerald
newsroom com
piainea aDout t v news coverage or
the Thurston shooting. We watched
as reporters cornered students and
asked them if anything like this had
ever happened to them before, and
we complained that the students
needed some more time to process
what had happened before talking
about it on live TV. And then we
would complain when the reporters
ran out of people to talk to and re
turned to regularly scheduled pro
gramming. I don’t know what we
wanted the TV people to do, but we
certainly wanted more information.
One of the worst situations to de
velop was that in the midst of one of
the most tragic events to hit our com
dp
.CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
munity, the Emerald was bombarded
by national media, with requests for
information, stringers and photos.
We fielded calls from The New York
Times, The L.A. Times, The London
Times, Reuters, Newsweek and The
Associated Press. We ended up with
an almost excited atmosphere, but
that was at the expense of the tragedy
at Thurston, and it felt horrible.
All I want to know is whether this
is really what journalism is all about.
Because if getting photos of people
with obvious injuries and quotes
from people who are so grief stricken
they don’t know what they are saying
is what this business is really all
about, maybe I chose the wrong path.
Sarah Kickler is the editor in chief of the
Emerald. Her views do not necessarily
represent those of the newspaper.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bigotry continues
“Chinese people will run all over you, if you let them,”
once proclaimed in a memo the newly promoted and ap
pointed assistant director of admissions and coordinator
for international recruitment, who has recently come back
from a recruiting tour of southeast Asian countries, all
with Chinese ancestry.
Such is the attitude and “expertise” of some University
administrators regarding race and nationalities, even
when the institution admits it badly needs the millions of
dollars from international students, particularly southeast
Asians.
Several Asian student groups expressed their outrage
and requested the dismissal of Peter Briggs at the time.
The Register-Guard and the Emerald covered the issue ex
tensively. Most did not think his “apology” was sincere
and looked at it as an effort to save his job. Some Chinese
scholars simply didn’t want to deal with the man any
more. But not only did the University not fire'Briggs, it
has recently rewarded him with a promotion and a new,
unfitting title: coordinator for international recruitment,
an approximately $50,000 job. Speaking of adding insult
to injury!
Kathleen Bowman, then vice president for internation
al affairs, who is currently the president of a women’s
school in Virginia, believed Briggs should have been fired
as the Chinese scholars had demanded. She would have
never allowed this appointment and would probably
“turn in her presidential chair” if she heard about this pro
motion.
Now to appoint such character to this particular posi
tion is like sending Bonnie and Clyde to hire sheriffs. It is
indeed a shameful display of opportunism and hypocrisy
to go after Asian dollars while such stereotyping is shared
by many University administrators, from the president
down. Frohnmayer’s categorization of Asian students as
“Orientals” and their rice-eating habits found its way to
the World Wide Web last year. This appointment issue
followed suit and will add to the universal “popularity” of
the University. A reluctant apology by Frohnmayer, cit
ing ignorance about “connotation,” simply didn't cut it.
The sad fact is that the administration is actively cov
ering up the Briggs memo incident; obviously, the poten
tial incoming students, their parents and the alumni orga
nizations in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. are
unaware of whom they are dealing with. I believe they
should be informed before “ambassador” Briggs’ next
“business trip” to the region.
Recent economic hardships and high tuition at the Uni
versity are enough burdens for Asian students; they don’t
need bigotry on top of that. They should spend their hard
earned money elsewhere.
While this university, according to an Oregon State Sys
tem of Higher Education report, lags miserably behind in
its minority faculty members, even compared to the na
tional average (10.8 vs. 17.3, for which it has yet to pro
vide an explanation), it insists on retaining and even pro
moting favored administrators such as Briggs who could
not have survived such racial incidents in other institu
tions. Maybe this appointment gives us a clue. Maybe this
appointment explains it all.
Tooraj Fooladi
University Alumnus
Grant special election
I am writing to express my disappointment with the
Constitution Court’s recent decisions on the student elec
tions. The court demonstrated poor judgment in ruling it
OK for poll booth workers to tell people to vote no on OS
PIRG, not admitting that this could have affected the elec
tion’s decision.
Students deserve a special election to express our true
feelings about the work that OSPIRG does on campus and
across the state. Right now Oregon has big problems. The
Willamette and the Columbia are two of the country’s 10
most toxic waterways. Air pollution has caused child
hood asthma rates to soar in the past several years. These
issues directly impact students and are things we can do
something about. The only way we can have an impact,
however, is on a statewide level because clean air and
clean water are not things that originate on campus and
spread outward.
OSPIRG is the only student group that gives students
this opportunity to affect environmental change
statewide. Through OSPIRG’s Clean Water Project, stu
dents work to safeguard our waterways by joining citizens
across Oregon in defending existing clean water protec
tions. OSPIRG takes a proactive stance on these issues in
not only defending what we already have, but also fight
ing for reforms to reduce the amount of toxins going into
the Willamette and other waterways.
Students must get involved now more than ever in solv
ing the state s most pressing problems. Working together
across the state, we can make a difference on issues that
reach beyond the University of Oregon.
I urge the Constitution Court to re-evaluate its decision
on the unfair elections process and grant students a spe
cial election, if not this year, then in the fall. Our Univer
sity of Oregon chapter of OSPIRG has provided us as stu
dents invaluable opportunities to affect change in the
larger society. Re-establishing the UO OSPIRG will ensure
that students continue to have a powerful voice at the
state level.
Grace Frances
International Studies