Colo. State student paper

[cougargirl]

I'm surprised not to have seen a thread on this yet, but The Collegian, the student newspaper at Colorado State, and its editor seem to be in some hot water for an anti-Bush editorial published in a recent edition.

The editor of CSU's Rocky Mountain Collegian newspaper said he's prepared to fight for his job this week in the face of criticism for an editorial published Friday that featured a prominent profanity.

J. David McSwain, a Colorado State University junior, said he has no plans to step aside.

"I think that'd be an insult to the staff who supported the editorial," McSwane said Sunday.

The Collegian editorial page ran a four-word editorial in large type that said, "Taser this. F-- Bush," with the profanity spelled out.

The Board of Student Communication, which oversees the Collegian and other student media at Colorado State University, will meet Tuesday night to discuss the editorial and its fallout.

McSwane said he expects to face an effort to oust him.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070924/NEWS01/709240341/1002

 

[ColbertNation]

Look, I'm all for free speech. I wouldn't be in this business otherwise. But I'm continually amazed (and maybe I shouldn't be) at the number of people who are seemingly unable to express an opinion without using obscenities.
Obviously, he doesn't like Bush, but this just seems like he was using shock value to make news (seriously, did he not think there would be any fallout?), rather than taking the time to craft something with a little more editorial merit.

 

[steveu]

It's simple. He knew saying F--- Bush would get him headlines in papers. He also saw it would get a whole lot of grief for the paper.

 

[HejiraHenry]

The marketplace will solve this.

The school paper has lost something like $30K in advertising, while the editor will no doubt find himself the object of a bidding war between Vanity Fair and Huffingtonpost.com.

 

[Ace]

It's concise, I'll give it that.

Pretty stupid. Out you go, Mr. Editor

 

[wickedwritah]

It seems like today's kids have no issues with using that word in everyday language. (I've used it aplenty in the past, but I've also been working on cutting down on my use of it.) It's not surprising that more and more people are trying to drop the F-bomb in editorials, headlines, etc.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Another buffoon.

Does anyone know what freedom of speech actually means? It means the federal government can't make a law infringing free speech.

The Colorado State student newspaper can and should give this idiot a giant **** YOU right back and kick his ass to the curb, especially in light of this:

Earlier this month, McSwane published a front-page apology when a profanity was accidentally published in a headline about a man who held police at bay for several hours. The apology said use of profanity was inappropriate.

The editor said profanity was inappropriate in the earlier case because “it was a news piece.”

“It was unintentional, it was an accident and I felt it extremely inappropriate to use a curse word. But we have run profanity in our paper, in entertainment stories, so we’re not against using profanity. It shouldn’t be in news stories.”

He said use of the expletive in Friday’s paper was appropriate because it was on the editorial page and came after lengthy deliberation by the editorial board.

The student editors also made the deliberate decision not to seek advice from professional advisers in CSU’s student media division, McSwane said. The thought was to protect the advisers from the controversy the editorial would cause, he said.

 

[wickedwritah]

Why consult the advisers and get their adult opinion on things?

Whenever we had issues at our paper, we always went to our editorial adviser, who was good at dishing out solid advice.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

The brilliance in Fort Collins never ceases to amaze me. ::)

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

The editor of CSU's Rocky Mountain Collegian newspaper said he's prepared to fight for his job this week in the face of criticism for an editorial published Friday that featured a prominent profanity.

J. David McSwain, a Colorado State University junior, said he has no plans to step aside.

"I think that'd be an insult to the staff who supported the editorial," McSwane said Sunday.

Apparently the Coloradoan sucks at journalism too. Or at least spelling correctly the name of the main guy in the story.

 

[wickedwritah]

People who use the initial for the first name always irk me, too.

 

[ColbertNation]

People who use the initial for the first name always irk me, too.

I think it's OK if they put Esq. at the end.

 

[terrier]

Any moron can drop an f-bomb. You don't give the enemy an excuse to overact with impunity.
Kid could've made the point against Bush without using it, and the advertisers who pulled their ads, the school administrators and the commentariat would look like overreacting idiots. All he does is allow the Bill O'Reillys of the world to look like heroes.

 

[Claws for Concern]

All he does is allow the Bill O'Reilly of the world to look like heroes.

Exactly.

 

[wickedwritah]

People who use the initial for the first name always irk me, too.

I think it's OK if they put Esq. at the end.

Not so much in my book. I just hate folks who think they are important when, in reality, they ain't.

 

[ColbertNation]

People who use the initial for the first name always irk me, too.

I think it's OK if they put Esq. at the end.

Not so much in my book. I just hate folks who think they are important when, in reality, they ain't.

Sorry, I meant to use the blue font on that one.

 

[wickedwritah]

I figured as much.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The kid is a genius... He is now 1,000,000 times better known than any of the other journalism students who will be looking for a job upon graduation... He'll scream about the first amendment and ride that all the way to his first job...

Not a bad plan for a kid who goes to a third-rate journalism school...

 

[Ace]

The kid is a genius... He is now 1,000,000 times better known than any of the other journalism students who will be looking for a job upon graduation... He'll scream about the first amendment and ride that all the way to his first job...

Not a bad plan for a kid who goes to a third-rate journalism school...

Would you hire him?

 

[txsportsscribe]

The kid is a genius... He is now 1,000,000 times better known than any of the other journalism students who will be looking for a job upon graduation... He'll scream about the first amendment and ride that all the way to his first job...

Not a bad plan for a kid who goes to a third-rate journalism school...

i don't think it'll help him one bit. chances are, his name will be long forgotten by anyone who could help him land a job by the time he starts sending out resumes. and if he reminds them of this little free press/speech ditty, i'm betting the resume goes straight to file 13 in most newsrooms.