After a recent fight with administrators, Zach Fox, the editor
in chief of USC’s student newspaper, resigned suddenly from
his position mid-semester.
And though we may have little in common with our crosstown
rival, something we can all probably agree with is that such
administrative control over the student press, no matter where, is
unacceptable.
Fox, who had been democratically elected by his staff to serve
another semester as the editor, was blocked as a candidate for
final approval from the paper’s Media Board by USC’s
vice president of student affairs.
The Media Board consists of school administrators, journalism
professors and students, and is charged with approving the
paper’s editor in chief. The staff of The Trojan votes on a
candidate, and the approved candidate is traditionally sent to the
board for final approval.
This is the first time a staff-endorsed editor has not been
approved, and the board never even got the chance to discuss his
application because administrators blocked it from the
board’s agenda.
Administrators cited problems with Fox’s application as
the reason for not forwarding him to the board, and the Daily
Trojan reported students and other administrators were upset about
the decision. So are we.
Fox wanted to change the way the Daily Trojan operates to give
the managing editor more control of day-to-day production. This
would give the editor in chief more time to pursue long-term
projects and better reflect the structure of a professional
paper.
Administrators didn’t like the plan because they thought
it would take more time to implement than Fox had planned for. They
rejected his application because he did not meet the current job
description ““ which he wanted to change.
According to the Associated Press, Fox had been warned that the
board and administrators wanted to vet the new plan before he
implemented it, but this board thinks the administration should
have nothing to do with the policies of its student newspaper.
When the administration failed to forward a staff-endorsed
applicant for editor for final approval, they prevented the Media
Board from even considering his application.
But that’s not the full story. The staff of The Trojan
does not have access to its operating budget, and curious about the
financial status of the newspaper, Fox had been requesting access
to The Trojan’s budget all semester.
The administration refused to give the students access to their
financial information, but administrators also said not forwarding
Fox’s application had nothing to do with his repeated
requests to see the paper’s budget.
The staff of The Trojan claims Fox’s application was
blocked because of his persistent requests to see the budget, but
regardless of the reason, this should not have happened.
USC has one of the best journalism schools in the country and
the administration should be teaching its students about freedom of
the press, not how to stifle and control the media.
Administrators should allow the students complete control of The
Trojan, and take the high road in this matter. If the new job
descriptions of the editor and managing editor cause problems, the
staff should be able to learn for themselves, without big brother
intervening.