Posts Tagged ‘Daily Illini’
Saturday, September 23rd, 2006
Who said this:
Unfortunately, several of our editorials … have been based on faulty facts, providing nothing but misinformation and misrepresentation. This is unacceptable, considering that the purpose of our opinions page is to facilitate meaningful dialogue among the members of the campus community and beyond.
Unfortunately, it was the Daily Illini, and not the Journal Star, which really needs to examine how it decides what to say about anything related to the Kellar Branch and the Peoria Fire Department.
The JS’s award-winning editorial page is quite capable of insightful editorials whether I agree with them — such as today’s editorial arguing against taxpayer involvement in a hotel attached to the Peoria Civic Center – or not. But on some topics, the anonymous writers resort to petty name calling and irrationality.
My advice to the JS and the Daily Illini is this: Drop unsigned editorials. Be open about cicrumstances and relationships that suggest biases, because people know about them already. It will only improve credibility.
Journal Star,Daily Illini,editorials
Tags: Daily Illini, editorials, Journal Star
Posted in Watchdog | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
No comment yet on Kyoshi Martinez’s fine blog, The Next Frontier. I may be going on on a limb, but that just might be related to the fact his pro-censorship employer, Illini Media, has threatened to fire anyone who blogs about the Daily Illini.
Illini Media,Daily Illini,Acton Gorton,censorship,cartoon riots,anti-Muslim cartoons
Tags: acton gorton, anti-muslim cartoons, cartoon riots, censorship, Daily Illini, illini media
Posted in The Wire | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
Everything Between linked to my post about the sniveling politically correct cowards who run the Daily Illini. But I really enjoyed his post about Barack Obama at the Gridiron Club.
Everything Between,Obama,Gridiron,Daily Illini
Tags: Daily Illini, Everything Between, Gridiron, Obama
Posted in Citizen Journalism | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
Those who defend the Daily Illini’s decision to fire editor Acton Gorton say it isn’t really about his decision to publish the controversial and (mildly anti-Islamic cartoons. They instead he failed to consult his other editors and his bosses.
While I grant that it is a good idea to tip off the publisher that a particular issue might contain controversial content. But for the most part publishers let their editors edit. If they publishers take a day-to-day roll in the editorial content, they aren’t really publishers, but a sort of Uber-editor.
But the idea that an editor-in-chief is somehow required to consult with or get permission from his or her subordinates before arriving at a decision is laughable.
A columnist from the Chicago Flame agrees:
Editorial staffs rely heavily on controversial decision making of their editor in chief, which comes from the consensus that he/she is the one with the most experience, the most dedication, and the utmost respect of the staff. In this instance, Gorton’s staff showed themselves to be fair-weather friends. No employee of any company would ever expect their CEO to call in for his/her last minute vote. In the same way, no feature editor, no news editor, could expect to be consulted about an issue that has no connection to the pages of his/her section. While it would be nice, no editor in the country would call it mandatory operating procedure. Many a news editor disagrees with an editorial board. There is good reason they are separate entities. News editors are defined by not taking a stance. Opinions editors are defined by the very strength of their stance. Chief editors balance everything out.
A newspaper that operates by consensus works pretty much the way any organization does when there is no one in charge: It doesn’t. Weak leadership leads to cliques, politics and infighting.
Leadership is, by definition, the ability to lead people to someplace they ordinarily go.
The University of Illinois just isn’t growing and teaching leadership … at least not in the journalism department.
daily Illini,acton Gorton,journalism,anti-Islamic cartoons
Tags: acton gorton, Daily Illini, journalism
Posted in Watchdog | 5 Comments »
Saturday, February 25th, 2006
Sweet babbling Jesus:
A Republic, Madam, If You Can Keep It
Because the Daily Illini has requested that Google remove the cached version of the Muhammad cartoons it ran, I am reproducing the entirety of Acton Gorton’s statement accompanying the printing here.
After this paragraph, the blogger — a U of I student named Stephen Donohue — goes on to reprint the column writen by Acton Gorton, the editor of the Daily Illini. Gorton was suspended for two weeks andfaces certain termination for printing this column and six of the cartoons that Islamofascists are using as an excuse to riot and kill people all over the world, but especially in Europe.
Let Mr. Donohue’s words sink in: It’s not enough that they got rid of two editors because they printed what they did, the Daily Illini wants to remove from history all record of what they did. Not only do the bosses at Illini Media think it was wrong to print accurate information, they don’t think the public has the right to see what it was that got the two editors canned.
They actually took steps to remove content from the Internet.
This is the most despicable, most anti-free-press, anti-free-thought action I’ve ever seen or heard of a publisher taking. And I used to work for Conrad Black.
It’s Orwellian: “Oceania is at War with Eurasia. Oceana has Always has been at War with Eurasia.” Never mind that all the newspapers reported differently when Oceania was at was with Eastasia. Good little members of the State are too patriotic to remember. Like Orwell’s Big Brother, Illini Media is trying to rewrite history. I should be astounded that people who work in the news business would consider something like this. But, I am not.
Ugh.
daily illini,censorship,1984
(more…)
Tags: 1984, censorship, Daily Illini
Posted in The Wire | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
Collegiate student journalism suffered another blow today. The U.S. Supreme court declined to review an appelate decision that gave colleges the right to censor student newspapers when the college itself prints them:
The case, Hosty v. Carter, No. 05-377, involved three student reporters at Governors State University, in Illinois, who in 2000 wrote articles in The Innovator, the student newspaper, that harshly criticized the university’s administration. A dean at the university, as the newspaper’s publisher, then demanded to review, prior to printing, all future issues of the paper. The students refused that demand and sued the university.
In 2005 the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled for the university, overturning decisions by both a district court and a three-judge panel of the appellate court. In their decision, the Seventh Circuit judges cited Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, a 1988 Supreme Court ruling that gave high-school administrators the authority to censor publications by their students.
[snip]
The high court’s decision not to hear the appeal “may be interpreted as a green light by some college administrators,” said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, which supported the students’ appeal. Thirty organizations, including press-freedom groups and university journalism departments, had joined in filing three briefs on behalf of the students.
I wasn’t surprised a bit. Hazelwood is based on the premised that any publisher — the entity that pays the costs of printing — should have the final word on what is published. The fact that the the publisher is the government — and having the final word makes them censors — doesn’t really matter.
So where does that leave student newspapers like the Daily Illini? As a completely privately-owned for-profit entity, the DI is free from government censorship. Not to worry, the DI is perfectly willing to practice self censorship, which doesn’t trigger 1st Amendment concerns, even though is spits in the fact of free expression, diversity of opinion and the free marketplace of ideas.
It does leave University of Illinois students in the exact same position as are students at Governor’s State — with student newspapers that doesn’t place readers’ right to know at the top of the list of things to do today.
I keep telling you folks … online journalism is the way to go. It’s decentralized and inexpensive. It gives journalists the power to tell their publishers to go to Hell, and then take their take their ball and go home. The “ball” being the ability to gather the news and write it up.
If The Innovator were online, then Governor’s State University would have no say-so whatsoever. If DI editor Acton Gorton were on-line, he would be able to tell the “independent” Illini Media to go to Hell, too.
Waitaminute, he is online
Hat tip to Kevin.
action gorton,daily illini,cartoon riots,governors state university,censorship
Tags: action gorton, cartoon riots, censorship, Daily Illini, governors state university
Posted in Watchdog | 12 Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2006
Acton H. Gorton, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Illinois, has started a blog.
The first post was made on Sunday, Feb. 19 — two days after Illini Media posted its new policy forbidding employees from blogging about the Daily Illini.
Gorton (as well as opinion page editor Chuck Proschaska) was already serving a two-week suspension for doing his job — printing news and opinion about newsworthy events. In this case, he allowed to be printed several of the cartoons that some Muslims are using as justification for rioting and murder.
Gorton is 25 — a bit older than the average college student — and has seen a bit more of the world, having served in the 82nd Airborne. Apparently, he’s not easily intimidated.
Today, he has this to say:
Some say what me and Chuck did was an act of courage, but it seems to me courage comes from the brave. I can’t speak for Chuck, but I never felt brave. I just felt as though I’m doing what was right and I’m doing my job. Admittedly, I was very nervous of the outcome. I didn’t know if the community would condemn me or what. But it was a risk I was willing to take.
One of the criticisms leveled at Gorton was that he endangered the lives of the Daily Illini staff, as well as others. Because muslims might riots. Right there in Urbana.
Bull. Journalism doesn’t cause riots. Demagogues preaching hate to hateful ignorant people caused these riots.
I am appalled there are people in the news media who think it is acceptable to deny information to the public because of what has to be a remote possibility of violence against them.
Every day, journalists risk their lives trying to get information in war zones or in nations that do not have the United States’ (increasingly diminishing) respect for the public’s right to know.
The quality of journalism is not improved by catering the fears of cowardly people. A free press is essential to preservation of this nation. Journalists who consider their own personal safety to be so important that they won’t run cartoons are simply not fit to call themselves reporters.
No one with a yellow streak that long and wide could possibly hold up to the pressure of covering a school board tax referendum, let along the major controversies of our times.
I would love to be able to tell Gorton that his role in this affair would make him an attractive candidate for employment for some lucky news organization.
But I can’t lie.
For the most part, publishers and high-ranking editors are greedy, self-important, money-grubbing lard-assed Chamber of Commerce types. They are exactly the sort of people a good newspaper is supposed to bring down a notch.
They want workers who know the unritten rules and are willing to play them. They want people who are easily intimidated and will follow the company line at all times.
The very last thing that the owners of printing presses and broadcast towers care about is the marketplace of ideas and the dissemination of accurate and complete news and information.
In other words, they don’t want Acton Gorton.
Thankfully, many of these people will be out of work in 20 years — maybe less — because they are too stupid to see the online revolution heading at them at full speed. They are convinced that if they aren’t filtering it, it’s not news. And if it is getting past their filter, they rely on their friends in Congress to make it harder to blog.
Sorry, publishers. The Internet and blogs are genies that are out of the bottle and your little monopolies are soon to be a thing of the past. But don’t worry. The price of iron is sky-high, you I’m sure you can get a good deal on the printing press once you junk it.
acton gorton,daily illini,anti-muslm cartoons,cartoon rioting
Tags: acton gorton, anti-muslm cartoons, cartoon rioting, Daily Illini
Posted in Watchdog | 10 Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2006
Just one of many incoming links from my post about Illini Media’s jihad against student journalists:
There’s no subtle way to put this – the people who run the Daily Illini have flipped out. Clearly unnerved by being in the national spotlight, the Illini’s board has begun sweating before the klieg lights like a latter day Richard Nixon minus the 5 o’clock shadow.
[snip]
Not satisfied with punishing [suspended and soon-to-be fired editor Action Gordon] merely with a Stalinist show trial and termination, Illini publisher Mary Cory wrote a letter slandering Gorton, stating, “His focus … is for the media attention he is receiving personally for his courageous move … to run the cartoons in his paper, not for the need to publish an excellent newspaper worthy of its reputation.â€
” … an excellent newspaper worthy of its reputation.” What reputation? I wouldn’t use the DI to wipe myself. It would leave more filth than it would remove.
daily illini,acton gorton,mulsim rioting,cartoon riots,muhammed cartooons
Tags: acton gorton, cartoon riots, Daily Illini, muhammed cartooons, mulsim rioting
Posted in Watchdog | Comments Off
Saturday, February 18th, 2006
Stick a fork in the Daily Illini. It’s dead. It’s corpse is just walking around headless, waiting to die. And good riddance. It’s existence can no longer be justified on the grounds that it performs a legitimate journalistic function. They abandoned the concept that a newspaper is supposed to provide information about the world. Instead, they suspected two editors who made a brave decision to show the campus community exactly what it was that Muslims all around the world are protesting, sometimes violently.
Now, they have abandoned all pretense of transparency. They have have issued new rules that seriously restrict the free speech rights of any employee Illini Media:
The rules are:
Illini Media policy on personal blogs and Web sites:
- – No Illini Media resources may be used in creating, updating or editing personal blogs or Web sites.
- – Illini Media employees may not create, edit or update personal blogs or Web sites during the course of their work day, work shift or work assignment.
- – Content of personal blogs or Web sites must not be based upon internal conversations, discussions and/or decisions.
- – An employee’s affiliation with Illini Media or any of its units should not be the focus of his or her personal blog or Web site.
- – Employees may not post material on personal blogs or Web sites intended for publication/broadcast or material that has been previously published/broadcast.
- – Any employee violating this policy is subject to immediate termination of employment with the company.
As I’ve written before, it’s unwise to blog about work. It’s unwise because there can be legitimate reasons why a call center, for example, might not want its clients corporate procedures discussed on the Web.
But what newspaper needs to keep secrets? Transparency is what modern readers want and increasingly demand. They want to know how the sausage is being made before they consume it. If there’s a debate over how to cover an issue, air the debate. Give the readers as much information as they need to know.
That’s why so many media organizations are putting blogs on their Websites. Some are even hiring outside bloggers. Eric Zorn, the Chicago Tribune’s fine columnist often discusses why stories appear and don’t appear.
But the Daily Illini found itself at the center of controversy — as well it should — after it suspended the editors involved in printing the cartoons. Some of the criticism came vis the Web and blogs like mine.
The response was this crackdown. Pity poor Kiyoshi Martinez, who had to decide to make one last post about the Daily Illini and then quit blogging about it:
Despite my feelings on this policy, I have chosen to abide by it for the good of the company. I am making the choice to stay with The Daily Illini because I believe I can do more good with the company by doing community outreach than I can posting entries on this blog. I considered all options, and ultimately I remain loyal to the company and its policies, and I will respect them.
And my advice to Kiyoshi: Do not put your fit in princes. Likewise, do not put your faith in newspaper publishers. They will break your heart. They will use your loyalty and commitment to the ideals of your profession, and then throw you out on your ass if they thought it meant the difference between buying a new car this year or next, or between sending their kids to a private school or a really, really expensive private school.
Were I not somewhat familiar with the creature known as a “newspaper publisher,” I would be shocked and surprised that a company that owes its existence to a 1st Amendment would force its own staffers to not exercise those rights or face unemployment. And also am not surprised that academics are motivated more by fear than by higher principle.
But I am struck by how utterly clueless the people who run Illini Media really are. Do they not understand that the Internet is not going to go away? Do that not understand how the Internet works? Anyone, I mean anyone, can post anonymously. Even these staffers they’ve threatened.
I don’t understand how anyone who thinks the media works like it did 20 years ago can be allowed to teach people how to be journalists in the 21st century.
NOTE: I’m being Zornalanched. Thanks for the link, Eric. Oddly enough, I haven’t been blogging much this past week. But my hits are up because most of my blogging has been about this nonsense.
daily illini,cartoon protests,illini media,blogging
Tags: blogging, cartoon protests, Daily Illini, illini media
Posted in Overset | 16 Comments »
Friday, February 17th, 2006
Billy Panther picks up on my post and adds other instances of lousy collegiate journalism in Illinois.
At the Daily Eastern News, our motto was “tell the truth and don’t be afraid.” Apparently, they want the editors at the Daily Illini to be afraid for their jobs.
daily illini,daily eastern news,mulsim protests,cartoon riots,cartoon protests
Tags: cartoon protests, cartoon riots, daily eastern news, Daily Illini, mulsim protests
Posted in Watchdog | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006
It’s columnist Josh Rohrscheib
Today, I am proud to be writing for the Daily Illini because of the bold decision made by editor in chief Acton Gorton last week to run cartoons few other papers in the nation would run. College newspapers have a great obligation to present extreme perspectives so they can be rigorously scrutinized in academic communities.
Some have suggested that Mr. Gorton should lose his job. If he is fired, this will be my last column. This is a matter of principle, and his actions do not warrant his termination. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Gorton’s decision, it is hard to deny that his actions took courage.
Hat tip to Kiyoshi.
daily illini,anti-muslim cartoons,muhammed cartoons,cartoon protests
Tags: anti-muslim cartoons, cartoon protests, Daily Illini, muhammed cartoons
Posted in Citizen Journalism | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006
The editor in chief and opinions section editor were suspended by Illini Media after the paper received complaints about the paper running the cartoons that are at the heart of a world-wide controversy.
This proves — without doubt — that the Daily Illini has never been the “independent” student publication it claims. The two were suspended by the Illini Media Company board, whose members include dean of the College of Communications and other faculty members.
There was a similar set-up at Eastern Illinois University. The Student Publications Board hired me to be the editor of the Daily Eastern News one summer.
I will say this: It was the clear understanding that once I became the editor in chief, the final say belonged to me, as it did every other single E.I.C. There wasn’t any of this “run it by us first, or we’ll suspend you if there are complaints that might cost us our jobs.”
My advice to the suspended editors. You just received a valuable lesson it took years to finally get through my thick skull: Publishers talk about freedom of the press and the public’s right to know. But when it comes down to it, all they really give a rat’s ass is cashing the checks from advertisers and not making any waves.
By being the cowards that they are, the people who run Illini Media let you in on journalisms’s dirty little secret a bit early. Keep that in mind when you enter the work force.
Update: Ripclawe also doesn’t think highly of the DI.
Media: Remember. Freedom of speech, expression and the press takes a backseat to no one! Unless the someones are willing to beat the hell out of you, then its bad editors.
daily illini,anti-muslin cartoons,muhammed cartoons,cartoon protests
Tags: anti-muslin cartoons, cartoon protests, Daily Illini, muhammed cartoons
Posted in Watchdog | 11 Comments »
Sunday, October 2nd, 2005
A University of Illinois student was struck and killed by a city bus on Thursday evening. In addition to regular coverage in the Daily Illini student newspaper, Editor Kiyoshi Martinez devoted his blog to providing details and observations about the developing story.
This is a wonderful example of how the Internet and blogging technology can be used to provide context and additional details to a developing news story. Kiyoshi is going to graduate from the U of I and take this new way of thinking to some lucky newspaper.
And I couldn’t help but to think that this is exactly what the Journal Star needed to be doing upon learning that three Pekin High School teens died in a one-car crash on a rural Tazewell County road.
I thought about how a j-blog about this event could have been a comfort to the family and friends by providing information as it came in, rather than letting rumors fly unabated until the next edition of the Journal Star came out. A j-blog would have allowed the JS to provide info as it became available to them, but with greater context and detail than is possible in the broadcast media.
newspapers,j-blogging,Kiyoshi Martinez,Daily Illini
Tags: Daily Illini, j-blogging, Kiyoshi Martinez, Newspapers
Posted in Watchdog | 1 Comment »
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Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates