The Process Behind the Karson Opinion
In light of the controversy surrounding the publication of Campus Press Assistant Opinions Editor Max Karson’s opinion titled “If it’s war the Asians want…” the editors at the Campus Press are disclosing the process behind their decision to run the article.
Amanda Pehrson, the opinions section editor, said Karson originally approached her with the idea for the piece in mid January. Karson had already written the piece in its entirety. Pehrson said she knew it would be controversial and that she wanted to talk to Campus Press Editor in Chief Cassie Hewlings before running it.
Pehrson said that at the time, there were no formal standards in place regarding opinions, but that she is working on standards for future pieces. She also said that she and Hewlings had talked about making the opinions that ran more provocative.
“We had a vision that a college newspaper should be edgy, controversial, and something that critiques the school, not just talks about campus events,” Pehrson said.
Hewlings said that she found value in Karson’s piece with how it questioned racial conformity at CU. She said that she was initially most concerned with Karson’s reputation in writing and distributing his underground publication “The Yeti.”
“I figured if there was going to be controversy, it was going to be because Max wrote [the opinion],” Hewlings said.
Pehrson said at that point, she and Hewlings wanted to have a companion opinion to go along with Karson’s. The piece was written by Felix Im, an Asian American student of Korean descent, and published the same day as Karson’s opinion.
Karson said Im’s piece was intended to say the same thing as his piece from a different point of view.
“[Cassie] said since I was writing about what it was like to be Asian, she didn’t want me to speak for Asians,” he said.
Im’s piece was originally placed underneath Karson’s, although the two were not linked to each other, so it was not clear that they were meant to be part of package.
“Hindsight being what it is, it would have been a good idea to try to link those stories together as best we could with the limits that we have.” Hewlings said, referring to the difficulties involved in working with the online structure the Campus Press uses.
Pehrson said that Karson’s opinion received no special treatment in how it was reviewed. Opinions are normally reviewed by both opinions editors before being published online. Since Karson is an editor, his piece was reviewed by Pehrson and Hewlings before it went up on Feb. 15.
“It was the exact normal process that we would have used with any other piece except Max was an editor,” Pehrson said.
Pehrson said that at she considered running a disclaimer along with the piece stating that it only reflected the views of its author, but ultimately decided against it. Pehrson said she would like to such a disclaimer run on future opinions, but that in this case she left it up to Hewlings to decide if such a disclaimer was necessary.
“I figured if Cassie wanted [a disclaimer] on there, she would put it on there,” Pehrson said. “I left the ball entirely in her court when I feel it was my job as opinions section editor.”
Hewlings said she went through weeks of consideration before deciding to run the article. She said that she didn’t experience any backlash until 24 hours after the article had been posted on the Web site. Many comments posted by users questioned not only the piece itself, but also her news judgment in deciding to have it published.
“I felt that it had a fair shot to encourage dialogue, and I thought it had a fair shot to upset some people,” Hewlings said. “I was really hoping the article would be thought provoking and didn’t want it to be hurtful at all.”
Amy Herdy, the faculty advisor to the Campus Press, said she was approached by Karson regarding reservations Hewlings had about the piece. Herdy said she offered to facilitate a meeting between the two of them to work out any issues, but Hewlings and Karson worked out their differences before such a meeting occurred.
Herdy said that as advisor she does not make decisions about what is published or not.
“I’m not allowed to view content before it runs. I am prohibited. This is a student-run organization,” Herdy said.
Herdy said that she knew Karson’s opinion would be controversial once she saw it on the site that day.
“I knew there would be a backlash. I would say one of my mistakes as advisor would be underestimating it. I didn’t react as quickly as I should have,” Herdy said.
In order to make sure student voices are represented fairly in the future, the Campus Press is taking actions to ensure diversity is a priority at the paper, CP staff said. All CP staff members will be receiving cultural sensitivity training, and a student diversity advisory board is being established to work with the student editors. Herdy said she believes these measures will prove valuable to the Campus Press.
“These will help us to have the perspective of all students on this campus,” Herdy said.
Additionally, Pehrson said a new set of formal guidelines regarding opinions is being drawn up in order to make sure controversial topics are fully reviewed before being published. She said she would like to have a minimal level of attribution in all future opinions along with a counter opinion on controversial topics. She also said that she would have the entire managing editorial staff review potentially offensive articles.
“I want to strive for more informed opinions,” Pehrson said.
A number of editors at the Campus Press have said they feel they were unfairly excluded from the decision making process, and they are running an opinion piece outlining their concerns Tuesday. Pehrson said that more input on the article would have been beneficial, and that she would welcome more input on future stories.
“I’m sorry that they [the other editors] weren’t included in this process. They would have been great sources for news judgment, and they will be in the future,” Pehrson said.
Herdy said that, in order for the Campus Press to move forward, it would have to address the underlying realities of minority students at CU.
“There is an enormous racial divide on this [campus]. There is high racial tension, and many students of color do not feel safe,” she said.
Karson said there is a lot of racism on campus, which is a huge problem that no one is talking about. He said he had originally written his opinion to encourage dialogue on race relations.
“I didn’t want to generate negative publicity for myself or the Campus Press. But the discussions that have been going on have been really good,” he said.
Hewlings said the Campus Press needs to reach out to those students who have ever felt silenced or oppressed on campus.
“We are a student newspaper,” she said. “Everyone should feel comfortable coming to us for news.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Rob Ryan at rryan@colorado.edu
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer George Plaven at george.plaven@colorado.edu
