29 minute read
Rhetoric does not have to harm
Rhetoric doesn’t have to harm: The impacts of speech on campus
By Abby Vander Graaff & Lauryn Bolz
@csucollegian
Less than a week before In response, over 140 students share common elements — most said. She explained that we have Abdullah was set to speak, Jewish and community members signed notably the endangerment of mar- a responsibility to engage in community members expressed an open letter to McConnell, ginalized communities under the inclusive discourse and to try to concern over her previous rhetoric criticizing her for dividing the guise of free speech. move forward. Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by e Collegian staff that examines confl icts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward. is article contains terms that may be triggering to some audiences. If you’ve spent any time on Colorado State University’s campus — or any college campus — you’ve seen that free speech is a pillar of our higher education system. More than that, the ability to hear new ideas and debate them with other people is central not only to us growing as human beings but to the very functioning of our democracy. What happens, then, when free speech causes confl ict? Over and over again, members of the CSU community have watched debates, protests and altercations take hold as controversial speakers visited campus. While free speech is a necessary and protected right, many students feel that certain types of speech are harmful, especially in efforts to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion. is creates a fundamental irony in which students are more likely to be oppressed by free speech than liberated by it. We need to consider the implications of the contentious dialogue on campus that favors the privileged. Re-examining the way we react to the use of First Amendment rights as a defense for harming others may be the fi rst step in driving real social change. e impacts of campus speech go beyond the intentional; speech can cause harm even when its goal was to do the opposite. We saw this most recently in the controversy over the presence of Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, who spoke at the 20th annual CSU Diversity Symposium. presence of Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, who spoke at the 20th annual CSU Diversity Symposium. in emails to the Presidential Task Force on Jewish Inclusion and the Prevention of Anti-Semitism. ey cited a tweet she wrote in 2019 that expressed support for Louis Farrakhan, a religious leader who has made anti-Semitic remarks. “Some members of our community view her as a champion of diversity, inclusion and equity values,” CSU President Joyce McConnell said in a statement on Oct. 19, 2020. “Others, particularly members of our Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities, see her invitation as undermining equal protections and lending legitimacy to fi gures and organizations standing in opposition to CSU values.” Black and Jewish communities on campus. “In the public denunciation of Dr. Abdullah, you have solidifi ed whiteness as a standard that allows white supremacist speakers to come to campus and exercise their right to free speech without condemnation while failing to hold the same standards for one who fi ghts for Black liberation,” the letter said. Speakers have brought controversy to CSU’s campus before in ways that impacted student safety more directly. In February 2018, a neo-Nazi group arrived on CSU’s campus the night of an event hosted by CSU’s chapter of Turning Point USA, where Charlie Kirk, TPUSA’s founder, spoke. Members of campus protested the event, including Young Democratic Socialists of America. e neo-Nazi group Traditionalist Worker Party, which is designated as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center, moved onto campus armed with shields, bats and gas masks, according to e Collegian. e night ended when there were altercations between the neo-Nazis and antifa, an anti-fascist group, and the police ordered a dispersal. Confl ict broke out again in October 2018 when a student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat told students of color to “go back to Africa” in an altercation following the Bernie Sanders rally that was held in the Lory Student Center. e next week, Dennis Prager visited campus. Prager is the leader of Prager University, a conservative media group known for releasing false and misleading information. Various students voiced concerns before Prager’s visit during an Associated Students of CSU senate session. TPUSA invited Prager to campus, requesting $13,999 in funding from ASCSU — $1 under the limit that requires the request be reviewed by the senate, according Much debate has been raised over what the University’s role is in keeping hateful speakers at bay. According to CSU’s website, “ e University celebrates, honors and respects the First Amendment and your right to free speech. However, those rights are not without limit, and it’s important to understand what constitutes protected expressive activity and what is not permitted at this public university.” Speakers can either be invited to campus through a University-sponsored event or through a registered student organization, according to Mike Hooker, director of media relations and Denver outreach. Hooker explained that for University-sponsored events such as the Diversity Symposium or Monfort Lecture Series, the department responsible for the event will determine who to invite. In these cases, the University has discretion in who comes to campus. If the event is put on by a student organization, that group has “broad latitude” to choose the speaker as long as it does not disrupt University functions or harm students, there is space available and the event follows all University policies and guidelines, according to Hooker. “What you might consider hate speech someone else might consider free speech and vice versa, and what we always want to prevent, and can within the limits of the law, is to protect people’s safety: their physical safety or the safety of their property,” McConnell said. “What we can do when people are being harmed by speech and feel harmed is really be there to support them in multiple diff erent ways.” e American Civil Liberties Union notes that while potentially harmful speech is protected under e Constitution, it is necessary and more impactful for universities to address the root causes for why this type of speech exists in the fi rst place. to a previous article from e Collegian. e article notes that students felt the use of their fees to bring Prager to campus was unjust due to his discriminatory views on women, LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities. In 2019, Kirk returned to campus with Donald Trump Jr. for a He also noted that the Uni“Culture War” event. Proud Boys, versity may not prohibit a speaker labeled a general hate group by from coming to campus due to a SPLC, stood outside the event viewpoint, as they are protected amid protests led by Young Demo- under the First Amendment. cratic Socialists of America. “I know that hate speech While each of these situations is hurtful, and I mean that in a is complex and multifaceted, they very profound way,” McConnell
JOYCE MCCONNELL CSU PRESIDENT
JAYLA HODGE FORMER CSU STUDENT AND FORMER COLLEGIAN OPINION EDITOR
Impacts and solutions
e fact remains that the confl icts these events seem to bring have a serious impact on students.
Jayla Hodge, the opinion editor at e Collegian from 2018-19, was not able to write about her own experiences during the 2018 Kirk event for her own safety and at the discretion of e Collegian’s management at the time. She spoke out eight months later when Prager was brought to campus, an event that she felt echoed what happened earlier in the year.
According to the column Hodge wrote, the neo-Nazis’ presence on campus caused University personnel, accompanied by armed police offi cers, to escort her and other Black students to the Black/African American Cultural Center offi ce.
“We were told we hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was unsafe for us to leave,” Hodge said in her column. “Together, we stood shocked and nervous. Employees told us they could not force us to stay in the room, but they did not recommend we go.”
Hodge believed Kirk’s presence created a space for white supremacists in the community to come out of the woodwork.
“I was terrifi ed because these people live here, they are among us (and) they are walking around bold as day right now, but they also walk around every day in the crowd,” Hodge said in an interview. “Now, I have to be aware that I don’t know who is around me, and I don’t feel safe anymore in my day-to-day.”
Not only was this a threat to Hodge’s physical safety, but it also aff ected her emotional state and her schoolwork.
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“I pay money to go to CSU and to get an education, and I can’t focus on what I’m paying to do, to go and learn, because I’m worried about my safety,” Hodge said. “And I’m worried about my friends. … How am I supposed to sit in class when there are tanks outside, and they are putting up barricades because they are bringing in a speaker that, last year, made it so I couldn’t go out all weekend or walk around?”
CSU is not the only university with events that have caused harm to students.
Jaden Edison, the editor-in-chief of Texas State University’s e University Star, witnessed a string of conflicts transpire after TPUSA funded a student government president under the table.
“Brooklyn Boreing became our student government president, and … it came out that she got donations from Turning Point USA, … and none of those contributions were listed,” Edison said. “She resigned from her position and never confirmed or denied the allegations.”
Following Boreing’s resignation, Texas State’s student government began a legislation that attempted to ban TPUSA from its campus. Backlash arose from this, notably from a rightwing group called the Texas Nomads. According to Edison, on May 1, 2019, this drew a crowd from both sides of the political spectrum, and though the Texas Nomads never showed up, a conflict started within the crowd.
“Long story short, … four students of color get arrested,” Edison said. “All of that stemmed from things that happened with TPUSA.”
According to Edison, TPUSA has not been as active on campus this year, but their rhetoric still affects students on campus.
“A lot of students weren’t happy (with the university), and a lot of them are still facing legal battles from the May 1 incident,” Edison said. “ ey felt that they didn’t receive a lot of support from the university.” e Collegian could not reach CSU’s chapter of TPUSA for comment.
“ e limits to free speech are few, and violence is one of those limits,” McConnell said. “Anytime … we have any sense that there’s going to be violence, we are always going to be prepared to protect our students, faculty and staff, but we always have to balance that against our obligations to free speech.”
Greg Dickinson, chair of the department of communication studies, said there are ways we can effectively respond to hateful speakers.
“When we’re in the public sphere and someone is saying something that we don’t like, our temptation as humans is to shut down that speech,” he said. “ e communication studies response and rhetoric says, rather than shutting down speech, do more speech.”
When Kirk returned to campus in 2019, Dickinson and other professors within the communications department held a “teach-in” event as an alternative. e event included conversations
around the history of race and racism in politics and how political engagement has been challenged.
“We knew how many were responding to the fact he was here: the anxiety, the worry, the concern and the sense of creating a campus space that was less welcoming for … minoritized folks,” Dickinson said.
“We always draw the line at violence, but the question (is) always, ‘Is it the speaker who’s creating the violence, or is the violence being created by people who are coming to hear the speaker?’” McConnell said. “We’re always very concerned about remaining content neutral while keeping everyone safe.”
ACLU notes that instead of denouncing speakers in a performative way, universities should “step up their efforts to recruit diverse faculty, students and administrators; increase resources for student counseling; and raise awareness about bigotry and its history.”
McConnell mentioned that actions such as preparing professors to facilitate conversations about the elections or allowing Black Lives Matter demonstrations on campus help to create an inclusive campus dialogue.
McConnell noted that the University could work with student groups to help them keep their peers safe during events. For example, she said TPUSA had to meet with the Colorado State University Police Department to discuss safety measures when it brought Kirk to campus.
How journalists can help
As journalists, our job is to balance speech and to tell the whole story accurately. However, when
reporters are unable to attend events because the speaker threatens their safety, it inhibits them from speaking out about the truth.
According to Hodge, her decision to attend the Kirk event was driven by her duties at e Collegian.
“We had to get an article out that night, and I’m the editor, so I have to balance my role as a student with my identity with my role as a boss,” Hodge said. “So I had to go and cover it.”
Conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos and neo-Nazi Richard Spencer visited Michigan State University’s campus in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Brigid Kennedy, a journalist for the e State News, a student-run newspaper at MSU, at the time, noticed increasing conflict on campus.
“ ings were tense (in the newsroom), and things at State
were so tense already during that time,” Kennedy said. “I’m pretty sure that was the height of (Larry) Nassar trial stuff — just, everything seemed very serious and very big all at the same time.”
Kennedy had originally planned to cover the Yiannopoulos event but left after feeling unsafe upon encountering people who previously harassed her at a Trump campaign headquarters in Lansing, Michigan, during an election night watch party. Stories like Kennedy’s are not unique. e Collegian’s own reporters have been put in jeopardy as a result of their work. Leta McWilliams, a former opinion editor for e Collegian, was doxxed after writing a column about why student fees shouldn’t be used to bring Prager to campus. To dox someone is to share their private information, such as an address or phone number, as a form of retribution. McWilliams started receiving threatening phone calls and emails, and so did her parents. She said she would receive a call about every 20 minutes, noting that it seemed like “organized harassment.”
“My parents’ house was getting the phone calls first,” McWilliams said. “People were trying to tell my parents that I was being disrespectful, that I was being slanderous toward a celebrity or some sh*t, all the typical terms of ‘libt*rd’ and ‘snowflake,’ all of that … rhetoric was definitely thrown about.”
McWilliams noted that although she felt supported by her peers in the newsroom, the experience made her feel unsafe on campus.
“If it doesn’t fit into the narrative that they feel comfortable with or have based their reality and existence on, (people) will do pretty much anything to try and diminish you as a person … just because they’re unwilling to learn,” McWilliams said. “If I’m writing to 100 people that don’t agree with me, and 99 are going to fight me, but one person changes their mind — or at least, God forbid, opens it a little bit — that makes it all the more important.”
In addition to solutions on a campuswide level, there are ways that journalists can help keep one another safe. ese solutions could include improving media literacy and increasing support for journalists in the newsroom.
Much of this comes down to diversity in the newsroom in general; the more identities there are in a room, the higher the chance that students will be better represented in final decisions. According to Hodge, there were years in the newsroom she felt that her writing was more supported than others.
“My editors were all white,” Hodge said. “ ey didn’t understand where I was coming from, and if they wanted to change something in my writing for flow purposes or grammatical purposes, I’m arguing that they are changing my point, and they can’t see that.”
Since articles pass through so many different hands in the production process, having a diverse group of editors can stop miscommunication from happening and provide essential perspectives on media literacy.
“In my experience, newsrooms aren’t homogenous,” Kennedy said. “ e process of editing can change a story so much. … A lot of times, people think that the reporter is the one who has created this whole narrative, and it’s not always true. … I wonder if there’s a level of media literacy that the general public doesn’t have, if media literacy in general could help solve some of those problems.”
Editing and management decisions are especially important when they have to do with pieces on controversial speakers, as they have the potential to put writers in danger. McWilliams noted that one way to reduce this harm is to stand by reporters’ work.
“You need to have a backbone and integrity, and you need to stand behind your writers,” McWilliams said. “And if it’s factual and valid, you need to publish it, and then you need to essentially put together a wall to make sure the information is protected.”
A sign from the protest at Aurora Municipal Center June 27, 2020. Some signs alluded to the death of George Floyd, who said “I can’t breathe” before officer Derek Chauvin killed him. PHOTO BY KATRINA LEIBEE THE COLLEGIAN
LETA MCWILLIAMS FORMER COLLEGIAN OPINION EDITOR
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McWilliams and Kennedy also noted that preparing journalists and audiences for possible situations of tension could help dissolve conflict before it arises.
According to McConnell, the reason a wide range of speakers are brought to campus is in the pursuit of truth.
“If there’s violence that’s actually going to physically threaten someone from getting that truth, then absolutely, we want that person to be protected, and that’s … why we work so closely with the CSUPD when there is going to be any kind of threat of violence,” McConnell said.
CSU’s free speech policy addresses safety in terms of physical harm and property damage, but the broad concept of safety can mean different things to different people, especially when it comes to marginalized groups that are greatly affected by the rhetoric promoted by some speakers. e University’s ideas of safety don’t necessarily match that of individuals. Because the policy does not address safety in terms of mental and emotional harm, students are not always able to speak their own truth. In this way, bringing speakers to campus who inhibit safe access to free speech undermines the very values these speakers claim to promote.
Editor’s Note: Leta McWilliams and Jayla Hodge are former members of e Collegian. Hodge currently works with e Collegian as a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant.
Abby Vander Graaff and Lauryn Bolz can be reached at editor@collegian.com.
WITHIN THIS YEAR, A DIVERSE SET OF CARDBOARD SIGNS WERE CREATED BY THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, TO SPREAD AWARENESS ABOUT RACIAL INEQUALITY.
PHOTOS BY MATT TACKETT THE COLLEGIAN
Protest paradigm and the journalists’ responsibility
By Laura Studley
@laurastudley_
Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by e Collegian staff that examines conflicts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward.
Protests this past summer amplified the cry for justice tenfold.
Since the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and so many more, people have taken to the streets in demand for change — change that still has yet to happen.
“Between (May 26, 2020), the day after Floyd’s death, and (Aug. 22, 2020), (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) records over 7,750 demonstrations linked to the (Black Lives Matter) movement across more than 2,440 locations in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.,” according to ACLED’s website.
Journalists all over the country covered demonstrations, sometimes for a majority of the day, dodging rubber bullets and tear gas alongside their community members.
But was it different for journalists covering the events of Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C.?
On that Wednesday, protesters converged on the United States Capitol, leaving five people dead.
“White supremacy and racism doesn’t die or go away, it just hibernates for a little while and then comes back,” said Tori Arthur, a Colorado State University journalism assistant professor. “( e events of Jan. 6) will have a lasting impact on the United States. I don’t think anybody will ever think about security in any place, in any government building, the same way ever again.”
Multiple media outlets rushed to find answers and cover the events as they unfolded. But was there an expectation to treat this demonstration differently than the ones in the summer because these protesters were predominantly white? How can local journalists cover these protests responsibly, diligently and fairly?
Arthur explained that in the wake of the incident that happened at the Capitol, the media is beginning to recognize that outlets need to be more “mindful of how they are characterizing these instances,” but even so, there is still a long road ahead.
“ ere aren’t very many Black and brown people in newsrooms across America,” Arthur said. “And so these events are being essentially narrated by predominantly white journalists who are not necessarily versed in issues related to race and identity and the ways in which stereotyping can come in.”
In a 2014 study titled “Triggering the Protest Paradigm: Examining Factors Affecting News Coverage of Protests,” authors describe the protest paradigm as a pattern of news coverage that perpetuates negative ideas about demonstrations, including highlighting violence and property damage, thus influencing the “public opinion against the protesters and privileges sources from or supporting the government.”
Arthur explained the protest paradigm through her own experience at West Virginia University. ere was a WVU tradition that when the football team won their game, people would take to the streets, disrupting traffic and burning couches, she recalled. Arthur explained there was a difference in the language used to describe these individuals in the media in comparison to those protesting.
“(Participants were described as) kids having fun, … as partiers,” Arthur said. “ ey were destroying property … setting illegal fires … swarming businesses, … but the language that was used to describe them, because they were primarily white and male, was much different from the language that is frequently used in the media to describe people who are protesting.”
Words like agitator, looter, disruptive, resistant, chaotic and riot are all examples of language journalists should avoid when reporting on specific instances, Arthur said.
She said this type of coverage can shift the public’s perception of these demonstrations. She used her family as an example.
“My Black family is using racially coded language to speak about people within the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s because of what they’ve consumed in the media,” Arthur said. “It’s highly, highly persuasive. … It will make people, even who would agree with basic ideas about human and civil rights, say ‘I don’t want any part of this because this is violent and it’s thuggish.’ It’s a powerful phenomenon.”
According to data provided by ACLED, peaceful protests were reported in over 2,400 locations around the United States last summer. Violent protests have been recorded in less than 220 locations, “under 10% of the areas that experienced peaceful protests.” e Denver Post reporter Noelle Phillips explained that it would be irresponsible not to report on the property damage and the events happening. It’s the job of the journalist to document what is going on at that given point in time, she said.
“If violence happens, that’s going to become the focus of the story,” Phillips said. “If somebody pulls out a gun and fires a shot at what previously was a peaceful protest, then that’s going to rise to the top of the story, and we cannot ignore it. It’d be irresponsible to ignore it.”
However, Phillips explained that putting things into context is important, asking questions about why these protests are happening, why people are reacting the way they are.
Additionally, Arthur also places an importance on providing context for readers.
“We have to think about what happened on Jan. 6 in the context of this long history of supremacist violence (and) terror,” she said. “ e media has to do a better job of contextualizing that terror, historically, because it’s so easy to brush these incidents aside. I think we need to make sure that we are accurately situating what happened in the history of this country because it’s not a unique incident.”
Phillips said that readers will perceive coverage differently. Some will view protesters as heroes while others will say they are criminals, she said.
“I always say, I can write all day long, all the facts and what happened, but I cannot control how someone interprets what they are reading,” Phillips said.
Denverite and Colorado Public Radio reporter Kevin Beaty explained that the protests that took place after Floyd’s death solidified the importance of responsible reporting.
He explained that people who were asking to be listened to had the opportunity to be heard. But with so many protests that were happening daily, it was difficult for a smaller publication to cover each and every event.
He discussed having trouble distinguishing which articles would actually add to the conversation, and which would get lost in the sea of information.
“When I think about how these things are covered responsibly, I really think these sort of pressures from editorial manner and pressure to deliver something that the uninitiated might care about,” he said. “I really don’t want to minimize the message … (but) these protest messages … we’ve covered 20-30 days of this, do we write the same story again?”
In the journalism industry, there is a need to be first, Beaty said. Get to the source first, uncover the story first, publish the article quicker than your competitors.
Beaty said that as journalists, reporters must stop chasing the “adrenaline binge” in an attempt to get information out as fast as possible because that leads to providing inaccurate facts and misses the opportunity to actually speak with people.
“I don’t know how you stop the speed race that the entire industry is engaged in without everyone doing it together,” he said. “Just listen to the people who are out there. Don’t forget to mention the entire nuance of the things you saw that day. e protest began, and (you) only talked about tear gas going off; it would clearly miss a chunk of the day.”
Denverite and CPR reporter Esteban Hernandez did not anticipate the high level of response from the Denver community during his time covering protests this summer, but he understood the importance of being there and listening to community members.
“Part of the reason people are demonstrating is to call out racism and try to combat it and try to end it,” Hernandez said. “We know that journalism as a whole has done a pretty sh*tty job of covering people of color over the years, so I think the protests have been a way to make sure we build trust in the communities that we cover.”
He explained journalists have the responsibility of making sure reporters do things that do not harm the communities they’re covering.
“We’re not just covering demonstrators, we’re covering our neighbors,” Hernandez said.
He said reporters need to educate themselves and reach out to the communities with the intention of learning, not to get an interview.
“One of the things that wasn’t taught to me in (journalism school) is that sometimes you just talk to people because you just need to talk to them,” he said. “It doesn’t always have to be a story. You should grab coffee with somebody and catch up and learn something that will help inform your reporting.”
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Hernandez also echoed Arthur’s thoughts when discussing the importance of language. He used the word riot as an example, saying it was a loaded term.
“We just didn’t think it was an accurate depiction of what was happening,” he said, referencing the protests last summer.
At an Aurora City Council meeting, he recalled council members referring to the demonstrations in Denver as the “Denver riots.” Hernandez remembered being surprised, stating that it was an inaccurate description.
“It was like, ‘Wait a minute, is that how people in Aurora are perceiving this? Is this how some elected officials in Aurora think of what’s happening in Denver?’” he said. “ is was in a public meeting in a public setting and they were comfortable enough to call what was going on in Denver ‘riots.’”
In January, when conflict ensued in the U.S. Capitol, major outlets like e Washington Post, CNN, NBC News and CBS News characterized D.C. protesters as “rioters.”
CSU communications professor Martin Carcasson explained that it is easy for people to want to label events like this.
“Some of those things are good, some are problematic, but likely justified in some ways, and some are obviously very bad,” Carcasson said. “People will inherently pick the terms that fit their existing narratives — best case for their side, worst case for the other side.”
In the past, primarily white demonstrators have been afforded the term “protester” rather than rioter.
“We have to make sure that as people who study journalists, as people who are in newsrooms or who are going into newsrooms, that we’re bringing a sense of cultural awareness so that these double standards do not exist,” Arthur said.
With the public’s perception of social justice in the context of protests being heavily influenced by the media, journalists must proceed with caution.
“When people are in the streets and they’re saying ‘Stop killing us,’ and you’re using racially coded language, or you’re using language that paints these people as agitators, that’s problematic,” Arthur said. “It can sway the public’s opinions of people who are doing what they need to do just to be treated as human beings.”
Being straightforward and getting to the point is the duty of reporters, Hernandez said. Additionally, Arthur explained that just stating the facts, without using racially coded language, is responsible journalism.
However, Phillips said that even if facts are presented, people will still be critical.
“ ey don’t like what you write about, so they get mad at the facts,” she said. “ ere’s nothing I can do about that. All I can do is write about what happened, give you the facts on a plate, and if you don’t believe it or you think I’m biased because the truth hurts, I can’t control that.”
Close to home
In Fort Collins and on CSU’s campus, residents were no stranger to the demonstrations happening this past summer. e Collegian covered a multitude of events held by local community members and organizations.
“We recognize the pertinence and the necessity of these protests and are working to make our coverage reflect the nuances of the situation and the impact it has on the Fort Collins community and the entire world,” a May 2020 letter from the editor read.
During the summer, most demonstrations in the Fort Collins area were peaceful, with Fort Collins Police Services Police Chief Jeff Swoboda stating he was proud of the community for exercising their right to protest.
“A safe community requires open communication, diverse perspectives and a foundation built on trust,” Swoboda said in a statement released June 1, 2020. “Let’s keep having the important conversations, even when it’s difficult. Especially when it’s difficult.”
And even in instances of violence, e Collegian attempted to not make any assumptions. Video links were included for readers to watch the events unfold rather than the reporting including descriptive details.
On June 11, 2020, e Collegian produced a digital edition that captured the events happening around Fort Collins and the country.
Spread thin, reporters shared the same struggle Denverite faced. Students were home for the summer. ere were just not enough people to cover everything that was happening. Plus, most students at e Collegian, reporter or editor, were not being paid for the work they were doing at the protests.
But that did not deter what few writers e Collegian did have. ere were multiple demonstrations that occurred on campus and each brought members from the CSU community.
At these events, Collegian reporters talked to multiple attendees, walked the routes, listened to speakers and reported on what happened. Our coverage kept a couple goals in mind: no sensationalism, no angle, no bias. Only facts.
And though e Collegian is trying to maintain those goals, we, as student journalists, still have a lot to keep in mind.
Journalists have the responsibility to cover demonstrations in a way that places care and attention to why these protests are happening. To not forget the reason behind the movement. To listen to the community members’ stories and to understand the harm that has been done by journalists in the past. To reestablish trust and learn to be better along the way.
Laura Studley can be reached at news@collegian.com.
THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR, VARIOUS MOVEMENTS HAVE SPARKED OVER THE COUNTRY DUE TO RACIAL INEQUALITY AND POLICE BRUTALITY. THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN FORT COLLINS AS WELL AS STUDENTS FROM COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY ALSO TOOK TO THE STREETS TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD AND EXPRESS SOLIDARITY TO THE CAUSE.
