Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, January 28, 2005
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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 pnvate property.
Unlawful removal or use of
papers is prosecutable by law.
■ In my opinion
Ethics for sale
When a Democrat turns conserva
tive, it isn’t a pretty transformation.
Case in point: Sen. Zell Miller, the
keynote preacher — I mean speaker
— at the Republican National Con
vention, who all but challenged Chris
Matthews to a duel on “Hardball.”
Acting like a mental patient off of his
meds turned out to be a good career
move for Zell, as he was recently
hired as a FOX News contributor.
The wall between journalists and
politicians has all but disappeared,
another quaint relic of the journalistic
past, like the wall once separating ad
vertising and editorial departments.
Everything is now an infomercial, ei
ther for the latest, hottest product or
the newest piece of legislation. Quid
pro quo is the status quo, and a lack
of disclosure is now the norm.
Case in point: Another government
payola scheme with a conservative
columnist was exposed this week,
this time involving the unbearable
Maggie Gallagher. Tlirns out she had
a $21,500 contract with the Depart
ment of Health and Human Services
to produce materials promoting Presi
dent Bush’s marriage initiative while
her syndicated columns praising the
president’s proposal were running in
newspapers around the country.
She never once disclosed the federal
contract to her readers.
Gallagher does not appear to under
stand the seriousness of her actions.
“Did 1 violate journalistic ethics by not
disclosing it? 1 don't know. You tell me,”
Gallagher told The Washington Post.
Okay, Gallagher, we’ll tell you. Not
disclosing a substantial conflict of inter
est, especially involving the exchange
of money, is one of the most obvious
and egregious violations of journalistic
ethics, a fact that even students at high
school newspapers would know. How
could a syndicated columnist be so
naive? The answer is she couldn’t. Gal
lagher is stupid, no doubt, but she is
not that stupid. Feigning ignorance in
DAVID JAGERNAUTH
CRITICAL MASS
this matter is just plain despicable.
Other examples of undisclosed con
flicts of interest have surfaced in recent
days. Conservative columnists Charles
Krauthammer and William Kristol
both were consulted on President
Bush’s inauguration speech and then
praised the speech on television with
out disclosing their contributing roles,
according to the liberal group Media
Matters for America. And FOX News
host Sean Hannity admitted he should
have disclosed that he sits on the advi
sory board of frequent guest the Rev.
Jesse Lee Peterson's Brotherhood
Organization of a New Destiny.
All of this began less than a month
ago when conservative columnist Arm
strong Williams was busted for an even
more serious and expensive payola
scheme. Williams found it within him
self to admit fault and apologize, some
thing the government failed to do. But
this time around, the administration is
singing a different tune.
President Bush publicly called for an
end to using taxpayer money to pay
columnists to advance the administra
tion’s position. “All our Cabinet secre
taries must realize that we will not be
paying commentators to advance our
agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to
stand on its own two feet,” Bush said.
Exactly. His agenda ought to, but
it doesn’t.
That is why the Bush administration
spent record amounts of taxpayer mon
ey on public relations in 2004, accord
ing to a report released yesterday by
the House Committee on Government
Reform. The report, which was pre
pared by Democrats, claims that
the White House spent $88 million of
taxpayer money on “government-fund
ed public relations contracts,” a 128
percent increase from 2000.
One has to wonder, if it costs this
much money to persuade the Ameri
can people to agree with Bush’s
agenda, just how sensible is it?
Not only that, but the administra
tion has been found guilty of “covert
propaganda” by the Government Ac
countability Office. It illegally used
taxpayer money to produce fake news
segments that sang the praises of its
Medicare prescription drug plan.
It just goes to show that the Bush
administration has so little credibility
left after its torrent of lies about the
war in Iraq and WMDs (this list could
go on for the length of this column)
that the White House must cloak its
opinions and agenda in the garb of
journalism. And, tragically, journalists
from all media are capitulating.
Case in point: FOX News’ Carl
Cameron was recently promoted to
chief White House correspondent, de
spite the fact that (or maybe because)
he fabricated quotes from Sen. John
Kerry in a story on the FOX News
Web site. During his first press confer
ence, President Bush gave Cameron a
warm response. “Carl, welcome to
the beat. Is everybody thrilled Carl is
here? Please express a little more
enthusiasm for him.”
Cameron then proceeded to change
the wording of his question on Social
Security reform, at first saying “pri
vate accounts,” but then correcting
himself by using the term preferred by
the president: “personal accounts.”
This small incident is symbolic of the
state of journalism today. Politicians
slap a logo on their legislative goods,
and journalists play the role of Tony the
Tiger: Personal accounts are grrrrrreat!
davidjagemauth.® daily emerald, com
INBOX
Student speaks out against
ASUO funding decisions
I am angry the ASUO cut funding for
two of the only programs that I support
funding with my student fees. In all
honesty, I am ignorant in large part of
ASUO and its workings, and so I de
pend on the three main campus papers
to cover it. For it to seriously slash the
Emerald’s funding and completely cut
the Commentator’s budget is a serious
misuse of power. I do not recall any
community demand or vote for either
and feel grossly misrepresented by a
largely unrepresentative student gov
ernment. I believe that an informed
reader is one who has several options
of news coverage. To limit my choices
through these budget decisions demon
strates a large disconnect between the
student senate and its constituents.
On a related note, when a news out
let becomes a part of a story itself,
questions of bias inevitably arise. How
can 1 depend that the non-editorial cov
erage of the ASUO is accurate as clearly
the Emerald was involved in a conflict
for funding with the PFC? Doesn’t this
relationship of patron/client necessari
ly underlie Emerald’s perspective on
the ASUO? While the response to this
will likely be that the Emerald is only
partially funded by the ASUO and that
it is an independent newspaper that be
lieves in factual reporting rather than
sensationalized opinions, I still ques
tion this conflict of interest. It also fur
ther proves my point about the neces
sity in funding multiple news
publications on campus as now I am
even further hindered from reading fac
tually based coverage and must make
do with partial and biased editorials.
Susan Goodwin
Junior
LTD general manager
abuses tax-payer money
What's going on with Lane TVansit
District? Why are the employees
preparing to strike? Why have 200 of
the employees signed a petition of no
confidence in the general manager’s
ability to run Lane TYansit? Why
aren’t the citizens of Eugene and sur
rounding areas up in arms over the
excessive capital expenditures by the
current general manager?
Everyone who has an employee or is
self-employed in the area serviced by
Lane Transit District pays the employ
ment tax. Do they realize that their
money is being spent on grandiose
projects and not to support service for
the riders? The current general manag
er, Ken Hamm, started with a capital
expenditure budget of $2 million when
he came on board four years ago, and
the budget is now $27 million for 2005.
He has done this while cutting the
number of routes served and the hours
of service, resulting in a 24 percent cut
in service in the last three years.
Ken Hamm and his board of direc
tors has also now requested an in
crease in the payroll tax. If this is the
way you run your business — buying
new buildings, remodeling, repainting
and buying new vehicles while cut
ting your services and service hours
and raising your rates — then support
Ken Hamm. However, if you see this
as a way to business ruin and, in this
case, a gross abuse of the way your
taxes are being spent, contact Rep. Pe
ter Defazio, your LTD Board represen
tative, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and don’t
forget to write letters to the editor.
Please, help save Lane Tf-ansit District.
Melinda Raven
Springfield
OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to ietters@dailyemerald com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic
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■ Out loud
“Not being able to smoke on public side
walks is just political correctness run amok,”
— Eugene resident Steven Leppanen at
Mayor Kitty Piercy’s first one-on-one public
session on Monday.
“It’s just an all-out rave party in the park. The
pot smoke is so thick you can smell it in the
houses across the street.” — Eugene resident
Eric Gran, at the same public meeting, dis
cussing the ongoing prostitution and drug use
in Monroe Park.
“Yeah, it’s cheap, but maybe we won’t use it
all,” — PFC Vice Chair Mason Quiroz on Mon
day comparing the LTD bus pass fee with buy
ing a large jar of mayonnaise at Costco and sav
ing money, but having some of the mayonnaise
go bad before it is used.
“Our people were tired of corruptive govern
ment,” — Visiting law professor Svitlana
Kravchenko in an on-campus lecture Monday,
explaining the situation surrounding the
Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution” and its impact
on Europe and North America.
“(Sex and gender) are crucial to under
standing the continuing Iraq crisis and
the war on terrorism,” — International law
expert and the 24th holder of the Wayne
Morse Chair of Law and Politics Hilary
Charlesworth who spoke in the Knight
Law Center lecture hall on Wednesday night
on the absence of women in discussions of
war and conflict.
“The silent part of the University of Oregon’s
campaign is no longer silent. We are at $300
million and counting higher by the minute,” —
University President Dave Frohnmayer in a
press conference Monday, announcing that
the University’s seven-year fundraising cam
paign, Campaign Oregon, reached the
halfway mark on the most ambitious
fundraising goal in state history.
“I think it’s ridiculous they’re asking
us to pay for it. If Frohnmayer is putting to
gether a $600 million capital campaign; that’s
a good place for them to look,” — EMU Board
of Directors member Gabe Shaughnessyat an
emergency Student Senate meeting Tuesday
arguing that students shouldn’t foot the
bill for extended library hours next year.
“One of the greatest obstacles for students
speaking toward the public interest is the
staggering amount of debt that they carry
when they leave here. Many students are
forced to make career decisions based on their
student loans and not on their passion to
serve the public,” — Public Interest Public
Service Co-chairman Josh Reed replying to
Governor Ted Kulongoski’s call to public serv
ice during a meeting with more than 100 law
students Jan. 21.
“We’re just pumped to bring some tents
and just hang out with the kids if nothing else,”
— Undergraduate Ethan Holub on Friday, a
member of a group of University students and
community members preparing to travel to
southern Asia and help tsunami victims.
“I feel betrayed by this,” — Development Di
rector Joseph Glig at the University Theatre’s
budget hearing Saturday after the PFC granted
half his requested amount.
“We brought T.O. here for a reason. If T.O. is
out there, he’s going to catch some balls,” —
Donovan McNabb, Eagles’ quarterback, on
signing Terrell Owens to the team.
“International law has a gender, and that
gender is male,” Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs at the Law School Margie Paris at
the annual Wayne Morse Center for Law and
Politics lecture Wednesday.
— From Daily Emerald reports