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Bird's EyeView
Monday, October 28,1996
Shoe store
Police seek link to area crimes
career plant health specialist
W
hat's wrong with the University Daily Kansn?
what's wrong with the Daily Kansan?
For four years in a row, the University's student newspaper has won the national Facemaker award, which is given to the ton five college papers in the country. Yet on its own campus, the Kansan's image is far from perfect.
Many students and faculty members contend that the paper is full of trivial stories. Some believe that it lacks adequate amounts of national news. Others say the Kansan contains excessive negative coverage and is often insensitive to student organizations. Still others, such as Sabrina Steele, Overland Park senior, say the Kansan's misguided focus makes it dangerous to students.
Tom Eblen, *Kansan'* general manager and news adviser, said he was tremendously proud of the paper he oversaw, but cautioned students not to rely solely on the student paper for their news.
"If you have the Kansan as your only source of news, all you have to go on is the fact that Madonna just gave birth to some baby," she said. "But you have no clue what's going on with the Kurdish rebels."
"I think students who are so apathetic as to allow the Kansan to be their only news source are more of a danger than the Kansan," Eblen said.
Steele said she was convinced that the newspaper did not cater to the entire KU community.
"If a lot of students are concerned with what bars to go to, what kind of VW to get, what kind of razor to use, then hey, you've got to go toward that audience," she said. "My focus is on the fact that there are other students here aside from simply 18-year-old freshmen coming in here who purely want to know what's the best way to shoot a bong or whatever."
Amanda Traughber, Kansan editor and Overland Park senior, said she has had difficulty balancing local, national and international coverage.
"We've got 17 reporters who are doing this for a grade, and their stuff needs to be in the paper." Traughber said, adding that reporters were expected to write five stories a week.
"There are a lot of positive things that go on in the Greek community," I wrote and said. "And those are never highlighted, but more like hazing stories or things that they feel are going to draw attention, which only makes the reading of the Greek community and their interest in the UDK lessen because of the negative portrayal."
"In addition to that, it's more important that we cover campus and cover Lawrence because that's our area," she said. "We can't afford to send someone overseas to do a story about what's going on in China."
Michelle Lawner, Overland Park senior, said that the relationship between the Greek community and the Kansan had been a long struggle.
The paper is one-sided when dealing with fraternities and sororites, she said.
Traughber, who disagreed that the greek system had been mistreated by the Kazanian this semester, said the paper sometimes served as a scapegoat for students frustrations. *The
It today!
Abby Kepka, Ellsworth sophomore, said the paper's focus on the negative gave readers what they wanted.
Rob MacRae-McKie, director of KU Queers and Allies, said he was generally pleased with the Kansan's coverage of the organization this year. He said he was only disappointed with the paper's failure to approach stories from different angles.
"I think we're easy to blame because we're faceless," Traugher said. "We're 14 pages of paper — not human beings. That's what it looks like, people."
"Every time there's an article about dating, it's always from a heterosexual point of view," he said. "There's never any attempt to get a different
"I think the tendency of every single newspaper across the country is for mostly negative," Kepka said. "Because negativity sells."
Features . . . . .
Allan Cigler, professor of political science, said readers' perceptions of the paper reflected a larger national trend.
"I don't find it as perceived any more negatively than it ever was before," he said. "We live in an age when the press is always under suspicion.
and the Korean is no different.
Traguard said that she was disappointed that many students didn't voice their feelings about their student newspaper. She said that without feedback, the Korean couldn't improve.
"When teachers get angry at us for something that we've done or failed to do, they get the idea that if they refuse to talk to us we'll learn our lesson," she said. " Ignoring us is not going to make us go away. The best thing that we can all do is to work together and understand each other and communicate with each other, because that's what this business is all about."
perspective."
Craig Lang, *Kansan* managing editor and Springfield, Mo., senior, said that most readers didn't understand that the paper's staff, which is made up of journalism students, was in a constant state of change every few months. "The biggest thing people don't realize is the
the biggest thing people don't realize is the turnover already said. We get new people
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every semester. I mean, there's some people who probably have grudges from something that happened two or three years ago, and still think the Kansan is run by the same people, when in fact it's not."
Jamie Johnson, Lenexa senior, agreed that the Kansan's control over students' news sources had the capability of harming or enhancing the image of the University.
"It's amazing the amount of impact this newspaper has, in KU and the Lawrence community," she said. "They are the 'big media.' And there's this horrible perception that the press is out to get you anyway, which is sometimes deserved because a lot of yellow journalism still goes on."
"The one vehicle or medium that we have is the UDK" Johnson said. "The UDK is the one thing that everybody depends on to let them know what's going on on campus. And when things either aren't reported on, or are reported on incorrectly, I think that's pretty dangerous."
Amy Stetzler, Overland Park junior, said she someday hoped to be a professional newspaper writer, but that she refused to work for the Kansan. Stetzler said reporters and editors must not underestimate their power to affect people's lives.
Steele said that rotating students was not the best way to develop a newspaper, but that it was good strategy to give as many students as possible the opportunity to work for the paper.
Eblen said readers, who expect the Kanan to be top-notch because of its professional appearance, forgot that the news staff consisted of people who were still in the process of learning the newspaper science. He said that because the entire staff changed three times a year, it should never be considered more than a work in progress.
To improve reader satisfaction with the magazine, Traugher strongly urged people to take their opinions about what they like and don't like about their paper.
"It makes it really hard to have a sense of consistency," Traughber said. "It also makes it hard for the students who are doing these jobs, like being a campus editor, being a features editor, in that they're just learning their jobs at the time that they leave them."
Traughber said many editors from other college papers had told her their publications went through the same image problems. She agreed that the turnover rate caused several problems that lessened the paper's effectiveness.
"Reader complaints are useful," she said. "If people don't like something or want to see something, it is so important that they tell us, because we can't read everyone's mind. That is the only measure we get of how the community thinks we're doing."
Weather: Page 24
venture and the repairs were success both for an upcoming state house and for general maintenance. The residents heating units will be off for at least two more days while theholes are reassembled.
"The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, so try to be patient and hear with us," he said. "When this is done, we'll be prepared to crank in the heat."
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