The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Proposed Media Council not worth student fees

By Tayler Clough

Good intentions do not always breed good policy.

This is a motto many realists adhere to and something that might be duly applicable to the newly proposed Student Media Council.

The council is laced with good intentions and is the product of hard work by a task force headed by Ann Darling, chairwoman of the department of communication. It proposes the creation of a council that would oversee “all university-wide media” in an effort to provide the resources each branch might need as well as ensure and protect journalistic freedom. The council itself is a further testament of good will in allowing a majority five students to be members, versus three faculty members and one professional.

Other goals include helping students who participate in each medium to have more exposure to each type of media so they are better prepared in their field after graduating.
Each idea is well-meaning, but is that enough? Students might be shocked to learn that though the U has put a freeze on pay raises and is letting other positions go, the proposed council would mean creating entirely new positions paid for by yet another added student fee of $1.34. Although seemingly little, these fees add up8212;and fast!

Also, suspect is the nature of the council itself. Whether it is student-directed or not is yet to be decided. As it stands, the council, which would be in control of all student media and paid for by student fees, would not be chaired by a student, but by a faculty member, which is curious to say the least. Most questionable of all is the position of the Student Media Advocate, a supposed liaison between student media and the proposed Student Media Council. The person filling this position would not be a student, and would also be paid for by student fees, and partially by the department of communication.

The job description mentions that the advocate is to advocate on behalf of the council for all student media, acting as the middleman between media and council. Is this really necessary? Shouldn’t each media source have the ability to access the council independent of a go-between?

A final concern is maintaining the independence important to any journalistic endeavor, and guaranteed by the Media Council. It is not clear in the end how forming a media council charged with overseeing and controlling all media or inventing a position like the Student Media Advocate is liberating to news or expression. Although I’m sure there will be many more meetings and efforts made to address such valid concerns, it appears that for now the Student Media Council is full of good intentions but is left searching for good policy, and student fees should not be included.

[email protected]

Editor’s Note8212;Tayler Clough is the student body president-elect.

Tayler Clough

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *