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An independent newspaper
Friday, May 16,2003
Since 1900
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 104, Issue 155
'Rape is a campus issue!'
§0Mm
"Why is it that violence
against women is
increasing?"
international studies
Professor Anita Weiss
asked the more than
200 students, staff and
community members
who gathered Thursday
in the EMU
Amphitheater for the
25th annual Take Back
the Night rally.
Participants created
signs (left), watched
performers (right) and
listened to the rousing
chants of The Radical
Cheerleaders (above).
Adam Amato Emerald
Union Pacific
set to spray
Roundup
on railroad
Locals are concerned that residents have not been
notified that Roundup will be sprayed in the area
AH Shaughnessy
Environment/Science/Technology Reporter
Union Pacific Railroad will soon be spraying a glyphosate
based herbicide, more commonly known as Roundup, along the
railroad tracks running through Eugene.
The spraying, which will take place some time between May
19 and June 3, has frustrated many anti-toxics organization
members around Eugene. Megan Kemple, the public education
Turn to Railroad, page 5
Government
to re-authorize,
possibly alter
education act
Members of the House Committee on Education
and Workforce held a hearing Tuesday to discuss
the current uses of Higher Education Act money
Jennifer Bear
Campus/Federal Politics Reporter
The turning of the political windmill in Washington, D.G.,
doesn’t usually create even a breeze in the average University
student’s life, but with the re-authorization of the Higher Edu
cation Act coming up, students should expect tornadoes.
The federal government uses the Higher Education Act to funnel
millions of dollars into the nation’s colleges and universities, in the
Turn to Education, page 4
Media fabrication receives criticism
Media professionals question
ethical principles after The New
York Times accused reporter
Jayson Blair of fabricating articles
Lindsay Sauve
Family/Health/Education Reporter
On Sunday, The New York Times ran
an unusual news story. It read like a cor
rection, but unlike most corrections run
by newspapers, it made national head
lines and has become the topic of dis
cussion in newspapers, television news
spots and media ethics journals, and it
has attracted the interest of journalism
scholars across the country as well as at
the University.
The article accused Jayson Blair, a
27-year-old national news reporter, of
fabricating information, plagiarizing
and even making up sources in many
of the articles he had written. The New
York Times said it was heading an in
vestigation of more than 600 articles
written by Blair, in the hopes of setting
the record straight.
Journalism Professor Tom Bivins is
familiar with what makes right and
wrong in the field of journalism. Bivins
teaches Mass Media Ethics, a class that
applies the theories of ethical princi
ples to conflicts media professionals
"The media has less
credibility than it used to.
The New York Times is
still considered one of the
last bastions of honest
journalism"
Tom Bivins
ethics professor
face in the real world. A major factor
in The New York Times’ decision to ex
pose Blair’s deception was to retain its
credibility as one of the nation’s lead
ing newspapers, Bivins said.
“The media has less credibility than it
used to,” Bivins explained. “The New
York Times is still considered one of the
last bastions of honest journalism.”
Bivins said because soft news and info
tainment have been put ahead of inves
tigative news as the focal point of today’s
mainstream media, people are becoming
less and less convinced that news outlets
can deliver honest and worthwhile infor
mation. But it doesn’t mean good news is
n’t out there, he added.
“There are a lot of ethical newspapers
out there,” Bivins said. “People just don’t
notice because they’re acting ethical.”
Journalism outlets are still hotly de
bating how Blair, who had a reporter’s
dream job as a national writer at The
New York Times, became so wrapped
up in a web of deceit and lies. The
Poynter Institute, an educational or
ganization dedicated to promoting in
tegrity in journalism, suggested in an
editorial this week that it may be diffi
cult for many news organizations to de
velop and enforce a system of ethics for
their reporters. The nature of many
newsrooms — highly competitive, pres
sure-driven and chaotic — are environ
ments that don’t necessarily promote
professional ethics.
Turn to Media, page 6
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Ethics professor Tom Bivins describes the importance and use of
media ethics education,, especially following the recent scandal with
The New York Times reporter Jayson Blair.
Weather; Today: H 55, L 40, chance of showers / Saturday: H 58, L 35, chance of showers I On Monday: The FCC will meet June 2 to vote on expanding media ownership rules