In the interest of complete transparency, this viewpoint has not been edited by the Daily. It appears in the exact form in which it was submitted.
Before I begin laying out my thoughts on an issue regarding student journalism at Tufts, I would like to clearly state my position. I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Tufts Observer, the weekly newsmagazine that shares many readers with the Tufts Daily, and my editorial board supports this message. I am publishing in the Daily with the goal of illustrating an irony. It is the policy of the Daily that students who are members of the editorial board, once they are voted into that position at the publication, are not allowed to publish articles or photographs in other news publications on campus (namely the Primary Source and the Observer). The policy is a long-standing one and, as far as I know, is well understood by the members of the Daily editorial board when they agree to their position at the newspaper. I choose to write about this issue and to publish in a competing publication because I was struck by an email I received from a current Daily editor who was rebuked ("an uncomfortable debate," to quote the source) for writing articles in our magazine and told to stop writing for us or face the possibility of termination from her position at the Daily. The student will remain unnamed, for fear of causing her additional trouble, but the issue remains: Why should a student be limited to publishing in only one publication on campus? Are we more concerned with students learning the skills of journalism or with forcing them to declare their ultimate allegiance to a single campus group?
It's troublesome to think that talented student journalists or artists should be restricted from expressing themselves because they fear losing their position as an editor at their chief publication. This decision is frighteningly close to a condemnation of artistic freedom and a despicable way of forcing students to remain faithful to their main publication of choice. The Observer is guided by Tufts' vision of a university where students can explore a diversity of interests and follow these interests along whatever path they take. As long as members of our editorial board pledge to fulfill their responsibilities to the Observer first and other publications second, third, and so forth, we are comfortable allowing them to publish in as many publications as they would like-without noting whether or not they are competing newspapers. Our support for an unmitigated expression of thought is what drives this policy and we have, and will in the future, make editorial decisions with this in mind. If an editor feels that an article would be better suited in another magazine or newspaper, that is his or her individual decision, and we will not rebuke the decision to produce quality work for another publication. The fact is that neither the Observer nor the Daily are elite national publications-we are not the New Yorker or the New York Times, respectively-and the issue of "cross-publishing" should be of little concern to those interested in promoting student journalism. The editorial board members of our respective publications are not paid for their work and thus why should they be restricted from publishing wherever they choose?
Allegiance is an issue and the concern that students might not produce their finest work if their time is divided between publications is a valid one. However, if a student is responsible enough to reach an editorial position, then why should we not expect him to follow his conscious and produce the kind of work expected of that position? At the Observer we trust that our editors and staff writers are responsible enough to produce first-rate work even if they decide to share their talents with multiple publications. A conflict of interest is another issue. Will reporters have a conflict of interest with the subjects they report on and the subjects they interview if their journalism is based on multiple sets of rules as per each publication where they work? Yes, they may. But as a college journalist understands, conflicts of interests are a daily part of our job and living up to ethic codes can be difficult. Take, for example, interviewing a TCU senator or a professor. What if that senator is your friend and the professor teaches your course? That is the small world of reporting at a university where connections and potential conflicts of interest occur with practically every story on which one reports. To repeat what was said earlier, this is not professional journalism at a national level; it is, in fact, journalism on a college campus. While we might seem like a microcosm of the larger world in many ways, we are really very different, and the rules of the former cannot always be applied with the same finality to collegiate journalism.
The question of student journalists producing work for multiple publications is a complex one but it has a simple solution. We are students who should be fully exercising our freedom of expression, trying new things, and constantly learning. So yes, by all means, write for as many publications as you would like. I support a student's desire to be a creative person undefined by a single organization or ideology. As long as editors remain responsible for their main publication there is no reason to fear they will suddenly jump ship for the next group and leave their responsibilities behind. At least, I have no fear that will happen at the Observer, and I will never condemn a member of our staff for being an individual at a time when he or she should by all means express that freedom. These are positions at a student activity; these are not paid positions in professional journalism. To restrict that freedom of expression at a university is a misguided policy and the editors at the Tufts Daily should reexamine it.
Michael Skocay is the editor-in-chief of The Observer.
