On February 5, 2007, members of student government from several Toronto schools-including York and U of T-misrepresented themselves as student journalists in order to gain access to-and in some cases, disrupt-a press conference hosted by Chris Bentley, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges, and universities. In response to this incident, the following editorial appeared in the Feb. 13 issue of The Ubyssey, the student newspaper at UBC. An abridged version has been reproduced below.
If you were a student politician, what would you consider the best way to demand tuition reductions from the government? Meeting with legislators? Mounting a letter campaign?
Apparently for executives from the York Federation of Students and the University of Toronto Students Union, the most effective course of action is to impersonate members of the student press, infiltrate a press conference, and then shout down Chris Bentley, the Ontario minister of training, colleges and universities, before he could even make his address. Because of this disruption, Bentley refrained from addressing the press at all, and all student newspapers suffered for it.
We’re not saying that direct action doesn’t have its place in politics, but students need to realize that harebrained publicity stunts like this can often cause more harm than good in the long run. Assuming the guise of student journalists is not only dishonest, it hurts the student community as a whole, damages the credibility of student journalists, and makes it that much more difficult to investigate student issues and be taken seriously by the administrators and politicians who govern us.
Surprisingly, Sarah Barmak, editor-in-chief of The Varsity, one of the four newspapers exploited by the student politicians, believes that the incident was “not really a big deal…no one was really harmed in the process.” Her blasé attitude either reflects a lack of understanding of the harm that could have been done or the fact that she just doesn’t care. We hope The Varsity is simply masking how worried they really are-and worried they should be. The unprofessional shenanigans of the UTSU executives, as well as the indifference of editors like Barmak, demonstrates a lack of respect not only for student constituencies but for the standards of autonomy and distance we should all be striving to maintain between government and media, whether at university or beyond.
The role of the media is to report, and the role of the government is to govern. There is a reason we keep them separate. In contrast to the reactions of The Varsity, we should expect student media to stand up for themselves. The implications are significant-if we are looked upon as juvenile, deceitful pranksters, what effect will it have on the ability of student journalists and, for that matter, student politicians, to access government officials?
Autonomy of the press is a safeguard whose value is often blurred in the wake of turbulent and ever-changing student politics. While it does not guarantee the kind of coverage that makes student governments happy, it is the only standard that protects the freedom of the press to act as watchdogs of all levels of government, in addition to the students they represent.
There is a tacit understanding that student journalists should stay at arm’s length from student government officials, and vice-versa, for the same reason that daily newspapers operate independently of the provincial and federal governments. Independently-run print outlets allow reporters to investigate current issues and events without the burden of having to toe another’s political line. It can shed light on questions that governments do not want to see answered.
