The whole incident is a teachable moment and CCSU appears to be using it as such. Then only person resisting that teaching appears to be Mr. Rowan.

Off campus, Mr. Rowan would have and should have been fired, and someone else would have been given a chance to be responsible for the content of the newspaper. People certainly are free to say and publish what they want, but there are consequences to irresponsibility. Someone needs to take responsibility for that cartoon, but Mr. Rowan hasn’t told anyone the identity of the cartoon’s author.

Nobody’s First Amendment rights have been trampled, nor would they be if Mr. Rowan were fired.

Oddly enough, he might as well resign, because at this point he’s only hurt his career by being there. When a grenade lands in your foxhole, lay on it and save the rest of your unit.

While in the Azores, you might want to ponder the phrase “abridgement of speech.” In both cases speech, roughly speaking, was abridged. The Rowan case is a little more interesting to me, because what you call the “mob” abridging the speech are the kind of people you’d like to invite to te Azores with you. Pity you won’t be able to attend the many poetry readings that will be occurring in the state to protest the assault on Rowan’s First Amendment rights. You’re going to miss the Donninger bash too, Sure you don’t want to cancel your trip?

Because.[/quote]

Nice.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Substitute Principal, Governor, State Police or Angry Mob for Congress. We should not censor Mark Rowan and his ilk, only try to communicate with him and his ilk that speech should be treated with mature respect. Beavis and Butthead can be funny. We should avoid glorifying the MTV mentality and electing cartoon elements to positions of power.

I’d like to skirt value judgments here, but what does a racist, sexist cartoon add to the marketplace of ideas and democratic debate?

Also, I am troubled by the distaste for length. Sometimes issues are so complex that they merit more than soundbites. It’s not like ink is expensive on CTLP. What does reading an extra sentence cost you? Are my thoughts constructed so poorly that Cheers reruns are more interesting?

Should Hamilton, Jay and Madison have observed word limits when writing the Federalist Papers, a treatise even Bill Kristol respects as vital to self-governance? Or do we allow ourselves the luxury of a few extra words here and there, where matters so vital are concerned?

Off to the Azores. See you in a week or more.
KK

Ken,

I’m not comparing anything — yet. Let’s assume the situations are different, as well they may be. If they are different, we shold be able to tease out of that difference a rule of application that will enable us to discover when we should and when we should not insist that the First Amendment applies to each case. I want to know what that rule is, so that the next time you are mishandled by the Hartford police for exercising your Constitutional rights, we can whip out the rule, flourish it in front of their faces and say — “Go away.”

You just tell me what it is, preferably in less than 300 words.

Because.[/quote]

So Lennon was writing about you when he sang: “In this way, Mr. K will challenge the world”?

Comparing the Donninger situation to the Recorder is fallacious. Donninger, while off school grounds, criticized a school administrator. Up until the “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS” Supreme Court ruling, that wasn’t a crime, but I guarantee Donninger’s principal hides behind Chief Justice Roberts’ sophistry. The First Amendment, fundamentally, to me, is about protecting unpopular speech, particularly that variety faultfinding of authority.

Sure, the Recorder employs unpopular speech, but it seems like a bunch of seventh grade boys gone overboard with student funds that could be spent better elsewhere. Should we Taser them like the student in Florida who questioned Sen. Kerry? No. Should we mentor them and demonstrate to them that journalists have power and they shouldn’t misuse it? Absolutely.

As adults, we have responsibilities, and that is one.

Peace,
KK

Because.[/quote]

LOL! Oh man… that cracks me up…

Because.

Well… perhaps a 40-year plan requires a 40- paragraph post.

Still, I find what he writes enthralling. His posts from all over the planet intrigue me… we are all like little Gobos in Fraggle Rock getting dispatches from a leftist Uncle Traveling Matt. I think it’s fun!

Ken: thanks for the clarification on your meaning. I getcha.

Uhhuh, on the other hand Principal Karissa Niehoff and Superintendent Paula Schwartz of Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington didn’t get very far administering a sensitivity lesson to Avery Doninger. Really, is there a rule of application that will tell us when we should and when we should not be exercising out First Amendment rights? What is it?

Matt Burgard’s story at the Courant about the Recorder today runs a little longer than your standard news story, but boy, he hits the nail on the head with this paragraph:

“[CCSU President Jack] Miller vowed to take several steps to promote greater sensitivity and understanding among students, including the possible hiring of a full-time faculty mentor to help guide student editors and reporters. He also said the university should strive to create a journalism major for students.”

That’s my argument in a nutshell, coming from the president of the University.

Peace,
KK

p.s. – for reals – follow your bliss. I take the safe travels part seriously. Thanks.

God that sounds great. I’m thoroughly jealous. Safe travels.

If you can write for a newspaper and solve the basic problems of putting a story into print (i.e. contacting people, getting them to talk, writing a coherent narrative), then you have the skills to succeed almost anywhere. They call newspapers “A daily miracle” for a reason.

I disagree wholeheartedly that the decline of major newspapers is indicative of our society’s malaise towards news. People want real, useful, truthful information more than ever. Those who can afford to are going to the internet in record numbers. Unfortunately, journalists don’t get paid a whole hell of a lot online. But that will change (I hope).

As for straight evidence of the health of journalism, I think FireDogLake’s coverage of the Scooter Libby trial was a prime example of where the internet is taking up the slack of the for-profit media machine.

The demise of news operations has more to do with the bottom-line demands of what used to be a public service than anything else. It’s not like the Hartford Courant editors want to cut reporters, they are told by the Tribune that they must cut staff because Wall Street demands high profit margins.

Law School is currently on hold as I try to pay for it by working as a deckhand on a boat sailing east from Fort Lauderdale to Thailand via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Right now I am in Bermuda and have time and decent internet access (hence my lack of posts – and here’s a postcard to any cops reading this: “Hi! Wish you were here! The beaches in Bermuda are way better than the Bahamas!”). My current plan is to resume my studies in January. That could change.

I think part of the difficulty in my journalism career has stood with my inability to compromise on certain issues and my dislike of working for corporate news machines. If I could shut my mouth, I probably would still be quite happy at the Hartford Advocate, or running Echoes from the Streets. However, I have an inability to be quiet when I see something wrong, small or large, and I have paid a price for that.

Such is life.

I am not saying that college journalism classes are the answer to all our problems, but an intimate, working knowledge of media and its processes, an awareness of how news is made, could benefit the society as a whole. After all, the first two rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.

Fair winds and following seas,
Ken

All college can’t be all things to all people. It is inefficient. Training people journalists would lead them with limited career options. Ken, I think your journey shows how difficult it is to have a career in journalism. How’s Law School going?

Peace right back to you.

Please show me evidence backing the broad generalization that society does not value quality journalism. Millions of people every day still read news.

It is our job as responsible citizens to protect and perpetuate freedoms enumerated in the Constitution.

And understanding that the Lantern is moderated by a Communications professor (Edmund Chibeau, I think, was in charge when I sat in on meetings), it is a tenuous connection at best. There is no class related to the reporting, nor is there a print reporting discipline at ECSU.

If we value the First Amendment, we need to invest more money into scholastic journalism.

Headless, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Association, a non-governmental organization, could tell you how many students participate in after-school sports.

These same sports are often covered by daily and weekly newspapers, and high school sports coverage is vital to maintaining circulation numbers for these papers. We want the athletes, but what if we couldn’t read about their exploits in the gridiron, because we failed to train sports journalists? This is just one small example.

And Headless, I am sorry I failed to communicate effectively about what I meant regarding your “State Department of Journalism.” I didn’t mean to imply Fox News, I meant something like the Colorado High School Press Association, run by students and faculty at Colorado State University.
http://chspa.colostate.edu/

Peace,
Ken