On Aug. 15, the top editors and other student journalists of the University of Georgia’s independent student newspaper The Red and Black left their jobs after viewing a draft memo by their board. This memo suggested professional staff would have more control over what stories the students should or should not cover. This memo also alluded to implementing prior review of the student newspaper. Prior review means someone in an executive position reads over the material before it is published.
The former staff of The Red and Black created The Red and Dead and continued to publish news online. By Aug. 17, the board met the requests of the student newspaper and eventually rehired Polina Marinova, editor in chief, as well as the managing editor. While the board sorted out this “misunderstanding,” the students proved to the nation they understood ethical journalism better than the board members who tried to control them.
One of the points of the draft memo was a balance of good and bad content, with a note saying, “If in question, have more good than bad.”
Ethical journalism isn’t about making content look good and straying away from things that look bad. The responsibility of a journalist is to seek the truth and report it.
Marinova wrote concerns in her statement announcing her resignation.
“Recently, editors have felt pressure to assign stories they didn’t agree with, take ‘grip and grin’ photos and compromise the design of the paper. But what’s most alarming to me is that there was no input from The Red and Black student staff about any of these changes.”
According to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Marinova said during the process of working with the board:
    “They met all the key points we asked for,” she said. “…we found out they’re willing to listen to us. They allowed the student voice to be heard.”
The things the student editors of The Red and Black asked for of the publication board were nothing short of what we, as student editors, have here at The Reflector.
The content of The Reflector comes directly from students–from the articles written to the design of the advertisements to the graphics and everything in between. The last pair of eyes to see this paper before it goes into print are those of our fellow student and Editor in Chief Hannah Rogers; not a hired professional. Our adviser, Frances McDavid, is a wonderful mentor to us and teaches us how to be better journalists, but she does not have the final say.
The board’s attempt to control the student newspaper violated their rights as student journalists as well as their First Amendment rights.
A student-run newspaper is a learning experience. We, as student journalists, have as much of a right to free speech as any other citizen of this country. The value of having our freedom to run this student newspaper on our own is the chance to make mistakes and learn from them. With that responsibility and opportunity, we will leave The Reflector with valuable experience to benefit ourselves in our future careers.
Both The Red and Black and The Reflector staff have the responsibility to create an ethical, correct and professional newspaper that serves the university. Prior review defeats the purpose of a student newspaper. We learn by doing, and when things go wrong, we take responsibility for our actions.
The unity of the The Red and Black staff during all of this turmoil was very encouraging to see. Passion is at the core of student journalism, and student editors coming together and working with each other instead of against spoke volumes of the character of the staff. We, as The Reflector staff, hope to continue to possess passion for our jobs and cherish the unity of our staff members.