Journalists, community members gather for open discussion
Fourteen panel members and around 30 audience members attended a Campus Press hosted diversity conference at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the University Memorial Center to discuss diversity issues on CU’s campus and within the news organization.
The panel consisted of minority members from several Denver-area news organizations, Campus Press editors, and Campus Press supervisor Amy Herdy.
Panelists offered up advice and other anecdotes of personal experience to members of the audience and to Campus Press staff members.
“Your job is to really cover the issues in a critical way and expose true injustice,” said Glenn Asakawa, a photographer for Publications and Creative Services at CU.
Members of the panel also stressed the importance of diversity in the newsroom, which they considered to be an integral part of having a fair and balanced publication.
Nadia Gedeon, assignment editor for Denver television station KUSA, said different issues matter to different people in varying ways, and it is the responsibility of the newsroom to provide a variety of perspectives. The Campus Press members also expressed intentions about making its staff more diverse.
Members of the Campus Press strongly encouraged audience participation at the event in search of advice and personal insight.
A large amount audience concern stemmed from Campus Press staff member Max Karson’s recent opinion article entitled “If it’s war the Asians want, it’s war they’ll get.”
The article, published in late February, was a satirical piece featured on the Campus Press Web site. The piece launched controversy among students and university faculty and staff.
The panel’s focus was on a larger scale of overall journalistic approach to matters of race.
Charles Gilford, a Tri-executive of the University of Colorado Student Union, said the Campus Press needs to be more “structurally creative” instead of dealing with issues of race in an impromptu, situational fashion.
Gilford said that the anticipated diversity training of Campus Press staff members needs to be, “comprehensive, up to date, and effective.”
After the forum’s conclusion, audience members expressed mixed reactions.
“I think that the Campus Press was educated,” Neal Walia, a sophomore political science major, said.
Despite this success, other audience members were confused by the forum’s outcome.
“I didn’t know what the point was,” Sheila Kumar, a freshman pre-journalism student, said.
The forum had an overall theme of learning and education.
“What [objective coverage] requires is a lot more education in the news room itself,” Asakawa said.
Audience members and panel members alike seemed quick to agree.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Spencer Everett at spencer.everett@colorado.edu.
