As a member of the media, I tend to be especially sensitive to censorship.
Following that vein, I am sick and tired of Ferris bringing artists to campus that have ridiculous rules about photography and media coverage.
You would not believe the hoops we have to jump through for mere photos of certain campus events and even then, we’re told we can’t publish them until they’re “approved,” which, for the record, at a public university is a huge first amendment violation.
While it is easy as a reader to look at the work we put out week after week and pick apart a spelling mistake here, or a grammatical error there, we put a lot of time and effort into a thorough editing process, and I know for a fact how much my staff cares about the work they’re doing.
Sometimes things are left out because they aren’t relevant, or we can’t verify them or to safeguard the privacy of the people involved but nothing is more frustrating than when they’re left out because of a lack of access.
There are figures on this campus, and even in the larger political scape, that think of journalists as mere annoyances, as bugs to squash, or ignore until they go away.
But I have to ask, if you don’t have anything to hide, what’s the problem with transparency? Are you so insecure about your social media presence and appearances that you have to preview every photo from a concert that might be published?
I clearly can’t speak for every journalist out there but let me say this: we are not all bloodthirsty parasites looking to exploit the privacy of others for a decent headline and we will not be squashed.
Click here for last week’s Chat with the Chief focused on changes to the 2020 census.