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December 7, 2004
Right to disagree;
no right to censor
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Jamar Younger
Editor-In-Chief
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Question: If you were reading a story on extreme body modification (or sensual body piercing), what kind of picture would you expect to accompany this story?
I’ll give you a hint: The picture would probably include a body part with a piercing going through it. Makes sense, right?
ASU and its student newspaper, The State Press, thought so and published a picture of a breast with a 10-gauge barbell going through the nipple to accompany its story on the aforementioned topic in its weekly State Press Magazine segment in the Oct.7 issue.
While the photo seemed ideal for the story, certain members of the ASU administration (most notably University President Michael Crow) felt differently.
The photo was brought to Crow’s attention by Ira Fulton, who is the founder of Fulton Homes. Fulton has donated $58 million in gifts to the university, and the university’s school of engineering is named after him.
As a result of Fulton’s displeasure, Crow and his administration have expressed a desire to become more involved in how the paper is run. It is believed that they want the editorial board to establish a policy that is includes a list of of dos and don’ts.
In other words, the administration wants The State Press to establish guidelines of what news stories to cover and what not to cover, as well what photographs to take and what not to take.
There are problems with this.
First of all, The State Press is an independent student-run newspaper that caters to the needs of the most important members of the campus: the students.
That means that when the editorial staff sits down to discuss story and photo ideas, they are usually thinking about the students and what they want to read, not the rich university donors.
That also means the rich university donors might not always like, or even understand the photos and content being published in the student newspaper.
Another problem that can arise if the administration becomes involved is the potential violation of First Amendment rights.
While some people think The State Press may have crossed some ethical boundaries, they did not do anything illegal. ASU does not have any justification for interfering with the newspaper’s First Amendment rights, which includes freedom of the press.
Imagine if we didn’t have freedom of the press and the government was allowed to regulate news content and/or photos. What kind of influence would that have on our society?
Well, that same principle applies to the relationship between the University and The State Press. The ASU administration should not have any influence on the student newspaper at all.
This is not to say that what the administration thinks, or even what Ira Fulton thinks, is not important; every reader has a right to disagree with the content or photos in a newspaper.
However, no one has a right to control what goes into that newspaper but the editors.
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