Oregon daily emerald., February 13, 2001, Image 1

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A strong presence
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Budgets approved
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Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Tuesday
February 13,2001
Volume 102, Issue 93
Weather
TODAY
MOSTLYSONNY
high 50, low 35
Hail to the chiefs
WRC vs. FLA
Fair monitors?
♦ ♦
■ i ne i-air LaDor Association gets
its turn in the hot seat at the
second of three public forums
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
One of the leading advocates of in
ternational worker and human rights,
Pharis Harvey, came before faculty
members Monday afternoon and de
tailed why the Fair Labor Association
is a viable monitoring organization.
Harvey, who helped establish the In
ternational Labor Rights Fund in 1986,
is currently a member of the FLA’s
board of directors. His speech was the
second of three public forums spon
sored by the University Senate’s ad
hoc committee to clarify issues behind
labor monitoring. The last forum will
be held Feb. 28.
During their protests and sit-ins last
year, supporters of the Worker Rights
Consortium called the FLA a weak
willed front for corporations because
its board of directors included indus
try representatives. Some members of
the audience during Harvey’s presenta
tion renewed this criticism by ques
tioning both the role of corporations in
the FLA and its monitoring practices.
Harvey defended the organization
and said that if a university only had
the resources for being committed to
one organization, it should choose the
FLA because the WRC’s reports on la
bor issues “come out in a somewhat
random way,” and the FLA has a more
systematic approach to monitoring.
But Harvey also said the two organi
zations can work extremely well to
gether, and the University should try to
join both organizations if possible.
“My own perception is that the FLA
and WRC are compatible organizations
... that are mutually supportive and
helpful,” he said.
ASUO University Affairs Coordina
tor Chad Sullivan, who has actively
supported the WRC, questioned the
role of corporations on the FLA’s board
of directors.
Margaret Hallock, a professor with
the Labor Education and Research
Center, also said it didn’t sound as
Tu rn to WRC forum, page 5
(i My own
perception
is that the
FLA and
WRC are
compatible
organiza
tions ...
that are
mutually
supportive
and helpful.
Pharis
Harvey
member,
FLA board of
directors
_n
Chrystal McConnell Emerald
Holly Magner (left) and |ay Breslow, shown with their ‘super’ capes, bring a light-hearted touch to the offices of vice president and president.
ASUO Exec: ‘anything but boring’
Jay B reslow
and Holly
Magner
have hired a
great staff
and shown
some
humor, but
they haven’t
left a legacy
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
Perhaps the best thing ASUO President Jay
Breslow and Vice President Holly Magner have
done during their term as Executive is assemble
their staff and allow it to run on its own.
Even Breslow and Magner think so.But some
of those staff members said that although they en
joy the extra freedom to work on projects, the of
fice is missing staff cohesiveness and a major
drive toward a single goal.
Breslow and Magner took over the ASUO Execu
tive office last summer with no student government
experience and limited background with student
groups. While the two let their staff shape the Exec
utive’s agenda, they have done little to push per
sonal campaigns; instead, their goals have molded
around what the rest of the staff wants.
“I’m proudest of the folks that are working in
this office ... and the job we’ve done together,”
Breslow said.
Their biggest projects fall term were the staff’s
voter registration campaign, which garnered
5,580 new voters, and the efforts to persuade the
Eugene City Council to change certain conditions
of the special response fee — an ordinance that
charges party-throwers for repeat police visits to
their disorderly gatherings.
Staff members frequently said the group is com
mitted, hard-working and able to function without
supervision, points that Magner stressed as well.
Brian Tanner, ASUO state affairs coordinator,
described the office structure as inverted, where
Breslow hires people to work on things they are
concerned about and lets them set the agenda.
“Jay and Holly definitely do not micro-man
age,” Tanner said, “At least [not] my position or
the [legislative] team in general.”
Chad Sullivan, ASUO university affairs coor
dinator, said Breslow and Magner’s hands-off phi
losophy has made the office less authoritarian
and more organic, which is something he enjoys.
“One thing I really like about [Breslow] is that he
Turn to ASUO, page 3
Media observer debunks theory of “liberal bias” in journalism
■ Jeff Cohen, creator of FAIR
Magazine, says America
actually has ‘libertine media’
By Hank Hager
For the Emerald
Media watchdog Jeff Cohen
spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of
more than 100 media-concerned
onlookers at the Central Presbyter
ian Church in Eugene on Monday
night. The creator of FAIR Maga
zine spoke of the conservative bias
in the media today and how media
consolidation is influencing jour
nalists.
In an hour and a half speech,
“The Myth of the Liberal Media,”
Cohen debunked a widespread be
lief among Americans that the me
dia are too liberal. This belief per
sists, Cohen said, because con
sumers are uneducated as to what
is considered liberal.
“What Americans most call liber
al media is actually libertine me
dia,” he said. “If we had a liberal,
left-wing media we would be hear
ing much more about the military.
There would be intense coverage of
the military. Complaints of liberal
media are brought upon by sleazy
content.”
This “sleazy content” is a by
product of important stories never
being produced, Cohen said. Media
conglomerates run many news out
lets and they control what is shown
and what is not. Cohen claimed
that important stories are often
buried or ignored because they in
volve companies that pay for the
shows to be produced.
Cohen said only six corporations
control the mass media. Media con
solidation is even encouraged with
in the media.
“Journalists now engage in self
censorship,’-’ he said. “They don’t
even bring up stories for fear of los
ing their jobs.”
Money is often an important fac
tor when deciding what stories are
Turn to Media, page 6