KANSAN Comment
Shield laws
Mark Twain once expressed the shaky status of newspaper reporting by saying: "At one point of my life I found myself in San Francisco. For want of any honest employment and because I was too lazy to work, I hired on as a reporter."
Twain was surely being facetious as he spent a large portion of his life as a reporter for papers all over the country.
But he illustrates well that a newspaperman's job is often on the periphery of what is considered proper.
The possibility of having to reveal the name of a source of news in court is one of the touchiest problems a reporter faces. If the reporter has promised the source that his name will not be revealed to protect him from publicity or court action, the reporter is usually honor-bound to keep quiet, but legally cannot.
An Oregon university newspaper editor was fined by an Oregon court a few years ago on just this point.
She had done a series of articles on
drugs on campus. When the court ordered her to reveal the names of the students from whom she has garnered her information, she refused to do so.
After many appeals and lengthy court action, she was finally fined for contempt of court.
Now the Kansas Legislature has tentatively approved a shield law for newsmen. This law provides that news reporters need not reveal in court the source of a controversial story.
The shield law would be a great boon to newsmen who must often walk a tightwire between honest loyalty to promises made to a crucial or vulnerable source and the fear of court charges.
With adequate protection, the newsmen could concentrate on gathering and presenting all the news, even the most controversial, and leave the job of detection and arresting to law enforcement agencies. (AMS)
Now it's real
The KU Senate Code has passed its last hurdle.
Despite the controversy over the student's role in the university now raging in the United States and the Kansas Legislature, the State Board of Regents passed the Code without a whimper yesterday.
The All Student Council, the epitome of inertia, is dead.
Next year a new Student Senate will take over.
The weaknesses in the Senate Code lie in the actual amount of power it designates to the students.
but the establishment of the Student Senate does open channels to the top of the management of KU.
Now it's up to students to untangle the confusion of this year's race for student body president and student representatives and make the Senate Code effective and forceful in the future. (AMS)
'Just a little bit down and the rest of your life to pay. Why, friend, you can't afford not to own one!'
The Hill With It by john hill
Today's Horoscope For Friday, March 21, 1969
ARIDS—The Deodorant. (Mar. 21-Apr. 19)
Play today and have fun, but promptly decline any ice-hockey games with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir today in the event of an eclipse since Venus is in juxtaposition with Eudora.
TAURUS—The Baloney. (Apr. 20-May 20)
Today is your day for studying. Your navel. It must be seriously contemplated and meditated and studied at great length. But if you haven't got time, just buy the Cliff's Notes on it.
GEMINI—The Siamese Twins. (May 21-June 21)
Variety is the spice of life. Do something really different, something you've heard about but never done. Think. Read. Communicate. Care. Listen. Try. Believe. Laugh. Cry. Live. Then tomorrow go back to your stuff.
CANCER-The Cigarette. (June 22-July 22)
Today is the day to announce your candidacy for student body president, pick your vice-president, ironing out a neato platform that is sufficiently vague and obscure, and cancelling your candidacy.
LEO-The MGM Lion. (July 23-Aug. 22)
Paint a hand-ball court. Smoke a lizard. Mail a cavity home. Emulate kumquat. Crucify a doorknob. Ostracize a boa constrictor. Institutionalize a marshmallow.
VIRGO—The Virginian. (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Today you will suddenly meet with a horrible, shocking, bloody, terrifying death that will occur when you least expect it in a violent and painful manner. Sorry.
LIBERTY-The Nightstick. (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)
Today you must finally make the break and stop reading all horoscopes. You are aware of the hypnotic effect that they have . . . the habit-forming nature of their attraction . . . you are getting sleepy . . .
SCORPIO-The Teeny Little Scorpion. (Oct.
24-Nov.21)
SAGITTARIUS—The Fallen Arches. (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Bad luck awaits you so don't walk under any black cats and walk around all day carrying a rabbit's foot in one hand and the rest of the rabbit in the other . . .
Walk a mile for a camel. Remember it's what's up front that counts. Test drive one today. Fight rather than switch. And try harder, you're only number two.
CAPRICORNY-The TV Series. (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Kidnap your mother today and take her to a tatoo parlor and have the editorial policy for the Reconstruction Press permanently emblazoned in any location you think would be the funniest.
AQUAMAN-The Watermelon. (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Make new friends but avoid strangers today. Take a long trip but better stick close to home. Plan ahead carefully and organize but just take things as they come.
Continue telling yourself that you only read horoscopes daily just for amusement and not because you really pay any attention to them. Repetition of this is important especially while frantically ripping the paper apart to find your horoscope each day . . .
PIECES-The Campus Political Structure (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)
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