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Oregon Daily Emerald Friday, December 3, 2004 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 |EN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR IARED PABEN AYISHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAH BALINCIT AMANDA BOLSINGER MEGHANN CUNIFF KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON (ONES SPORTS EDITOR ION ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CHILINGER1AN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER DAHVI FISCHER AMY LICHTY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID IAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR JENNIFER MCBRIDE AILEE SLATER CHUCK S1X3THOWER TRAVIS WILLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR IAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER ERIK BISHOFF PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR ELLIOTT ASBURY DUSTIN REESE BRIAN NE SHOLIAN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY IEANN1E EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BIACKF1ELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR SLADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541)3465511 IUDY R1EDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRITCHETT RECEPTIONIST NATHAN FOSTER AIBING GUO ANDREW LEAHY JOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541) 3463712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CAUSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASER-LEE MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PHI1.BIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUITHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541)3464343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETTF. LESUE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)346-4381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR IEN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT ANDY HOLLAND DESIGNERS The OregOn Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. Chilingerian needs to brush up on reviewing skills I just read Natasha Chilingerian’s re view of Lord Leebrick’s “Tempest” (’’Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ proves intri cate, hard to interpret,” ODE, Nov. 24) and was simply aghast. Did she really suggest that people shouldn’t see Shakespeare because it might be hard to interpret? Also, she might want to look at how theater reviews are generally written, at least in all those “drama junkie” publications I read like The New York Times. It’s usually a good idea to note who directed the show, how long the show is running, all of the main actors and also to analyze why things happen, not just note that they might be confusing. Leebrick’s “Tempest” was directed by University theater professor John Schmor, two years ago named the best director in Eugene by Eugene Weekly. It stars University art professor Leon INBOX Johnson as Prospero, one of Shake speare’s most beloved characters. It runs through Dec. 11. Furthermore, she might want to brush up on all that language that “might as well be German” if she plans to write more theater reviews. Shake speare is, and will probably always be, the single most produced playwright in the entire history of the world — and, I think most people will agree, a pretty damn good writer. Greg Heaton Theater Arts Condoleezza Rice rises to her level of incompetence Is this a great country or what? Thanks to President Bush, we will now have the first secretary of state who once had an oil tanker named af ter her. No kidding. Chevron put Con doleezza Rice’s name on a tanker when she served on its board of direc tors, from which she resigned just before the 2001 inauguration. But that factoid is overshadowed by her career since moving from Chevron’s board. Does she deserve this career move? Set aside her lack of ex perience as a diplomat. Except for some time spent as provost of Stanford University, she was a specialist in Russ ian studies. Also set aside her weak management skills, which were mani fest during her tenure as national secu rity advisor. Can she learn to tell the truth to the American people? Her record is not encouraging. Rice was one of the key administration people in the massive deception campaign leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The U.S. government refuses to keep count. More than once, Rice stood be fore the American people and blatant ly lied to them. It was Rice who told us shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks that she and the rest of the national security apparatus never dreamed ■ In my opinion Bush, can I say CCIlSOFSllip? As a writer there is nothing I cher ish more than my right to free speech. That is why every report of censorship in the media really gets my blood boiling. Now that Presi dent Bush has secured a second term, a trend appears to be emerging in America. The gatekeepers at our television and radio stations and newspapers are going out of their way to avoid anything at all that might be interpreted as morally pro gressive or anti-administration. Whether they fear retribution from the public or the president, or both, is hard to say. Recently, CBS and UPN (both owned by Viacom) re fused to run a church’s pro-gay ad vertisement, arguing, in a letter to the church, that “because this com mercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and or ganizations, and the fact the execu tive branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unaccept able for broadcast on the networks.” The ad is for the United Church of Christ and features bouncers outside of a church refusing to let gay, mi nority and disabled worshipers in. The text reads, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” And then a narrator says, “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” (See the ad at www.stills peaking.com.) The first question is: What does a church saying it accepts gay and les bian parishioners have to do with the Federal Marriage Amendment? The second question, best articulated in an article on Media Matters for Amer ica (http://mediamatters.org), is: “How does CBS justify rejecting an ad that purportedly conflicts with the Bush Administration’s views, given CBS’s apparent willingness to air ad vocacy ads that support administra tion policies?” Think about this for a second. Just because a commercial “touch es” on the idea that gays and lesbians should be treated equally, which is a progressive concept antithetical to the administration’s DAVID JAGERNAUTH CRITICAL MASS homophobia, it is “too controver sial” and “unacceptable for broad cast.” Inclusion is too controversial of an idea. Even suggesting that being gay or lesbian is not a sin is totally out of line on network television. What if kids are watch ing? Think about the children! On a side note, ABC Family, Hallmark, Nick at Nite and many other stations have agreed to run the spot. Moving to the world of newspa pers, Jim Goldsborough, a senior columnist at The San Diego Union Tribune, resigned after his column was pulled by the publisher for being “offensive. ” The article discussed the fact that Jewish voters are over whelmingly Democratic. “The column is not offensive to Jews. Maybe to Bush,” Goldsborough said in a telephone interview with Edi tor & Publisher. His columns are often more liberal than the editorial board. “I think this was payback,” he said. In another recent example of cen sorship, a Nov. 30 Associated Press article was edited by FoxNews.com and the Chicago Sun-Times to hide the fact that the Ohio secretary of state, who oversees elections in Ohio, was also the co-chairman of Bush’s re-election campaign in Ohio. What would compel an editor to delete this blatant example of a conflict of inter est? I wonder. Now don’t get me wrong. Censor ship isn’t just a conservative habit. I wrote a column for the Eugene Weekly recently where the word “feminists” was edited out of a para graph listing moralizing prudes. Not surprisingly, they left in “religious zealots” and “an increasingly op pressive government.” For most people, one disappearing word here or there, one description, one column and one ad are relatively insignificant examples of censorship. But these examples merely hint at the real issue. Censorship is an institu tional problem that is massive in scope. Why, for example, is hard-hit ting investigative reporting nonexist ent today? Take one part litigation and add two parts corporate monopoliza tion looking out solely for the bottom line, and you have your answer. Cost ly, time-consuming and politically risky stories will never get published because of the structure of the media business, even if the will exists among journalists. Furthermore, since journalism is now a commodity to be sold, it must be like every other product that the public consumes: safe, sanitary, branded and appealing to one of our base emotions. The news has to act like a horoscope and tell us what we want to hear. That’s why CNN re ports about the war in two different ways: first, a critical version for over seas markets and then a sugarcoated version for Americans. The funny thing is, CNN is still blasted by Re publicans for anti-American cover age. And with every complaint the news becomes sweeter and sweeter. Eventually they’ll just say, “What war?” and leave it at that. Examples of censorship today are too numerous to list completely. The administration is removing political ly damaging facts from government Web sites under the guise of legiti mate homeland security precau tions. This includes removing every thing from scientific facts that fail to jive with the president’s religious be liefs and economic imperatives to re moving flubs from transcripts of Bush’s speeches. Furthermore, the administration is restricting federal scientists from communicating with World Health Organization officials and manipulating federal advisory committees, all in an effort to politi cize the scientific establishment for partisan ends. This too is a form of censorship. What can we do? I really don’t know. I can only think of one thing to do: keep writing. davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com that Al-Qaida would ever fly airplanes into buildings. We learned later that the CIA had warned of this. And Rice played on the Amer ican people’s fears of a nuclear attack from Iraq. It was she who said, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” So now we have an interesting situation: The woman who played so important a role in deceiving the American people into war has been nominated for the most prestigious job in the U.S. government. Some years ago Laurence Peter formulated the Peter Principle: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” If Rice is con firmed as secretary of state, Dr. Peter’s princi ple will have to be revised. The question is not, “Does she deserve it?” No. The question is, “Do we?” Sheldon Richman Fairfax, Va. Professors worked hard over Thanksgiving holiday break I am writing to take issue with your Dead Week editorial (’’Unheeded rules make Dead Week truly killer,” ODE, Dec. 1). First, I person ally honor Dead Week. The final term paper for my class was due this week, but a full draft was due two weeks earlier, and everyone had full warning in the syllabus. Second, I do not know any faculty who did not work most of the “holiday,” contrary to the editorial comment: "When it is almost assured that few professors will spend the same time preparing for their next week of school.” Before you say things like this, I recommend you try a day or two of our lives. Have you ever graded papers or prepared lectures? Most students who do these things gain a much better appreciation of their faculty. Let me fill you in on how I spent the holiday: (1) I graded papers, which is time consuming and non-trivial; (2) I pre pared lectures; (3) I prepared a study guide for the final; (4) I wrote a lot of letters of recommendation; (5) I read application files for a faculty search; (6) I worked on a grant proposal that, if funded, includes money for both undergraduate and graduate education. I slept fewer than five hours each night be cause I was working hard to catch up. I wasn’t the only person in my department working ei ther — I saw most of my colleagues at work over the holiday. Bitty Roy Associate Professor of Biology OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic submissions are pre ferred. Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address tor verifica tion. The Emerald reserves the rigit to edit for space, grammar and styte. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald. ONLINE POLL THIS WEEK'S POLL RESULTS Do you enjoy holiday shopping? (34 votes) 1. Yes, it is a good way to show others you care for them. 53 percent 2. Yes, there are great deals. 11.8 percent 3. No, I don't have any money. 17.6 percent 4. No, it is too much stress. 5.8 percent 5. What, it's the holiday season? 11.8 percent
