Starting Winter Quarter, SFCC’s Associated Student Government imposed stringent restrictions in regards to communication between the student-run newspaper, The Communicator and their own staff.
The new ASG guidelines were put in place after no apparent provocation and impede the Communicator’s ability to accurately report on-campus news. The new policy which centers around the ASG’s Director of Marketing (DOM) are atypical of student government on college campuses in the Pacific Northwest.
The ASG is now requiring all questions to be forwarded to their Director of Marketing (another student position) via email at least 48 hours beforehand. The interview is to take place in a 30 minute pre-scheduled time window once a week at her convenience. No member of student government is to speak with a reporter one-on-one on the record under any circumstances regardless of story.
According to Director of Marketing for ASG, Isabel Heisler, the student government voted on this policy together.
“If you guys need to ask us questions, I have to be present,” said Heisler. “It was a decision made by the ASG as a whole. I am the PR person.”
Several anonymous ASG members said they were unaware of this new policy.
“At some point elected leaders forgot that they were elected to serve, not to be part of some private club,” said Mike Hiestand, Legal Consultant of the Student Press Law Center. “Part of serving is making sure their constituents are informed. That’s why we have the press.”
The Communicator staff reached out to other college newsrooms in the Pacific Northwest. Their responses came flooding back with concerns for The Communicator.
“They need to respect reporters’ time requirements,” said Cody Cottier, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Evergreen at WSU. “Newspapers don’t operate on a 48-hour cycle, or even a 24-hour cycle anymore. Journalists often need information quickly and on a short notice.”
Although other student-run newspapers have had their own issues with student government in the past, the breakdown between SFCC’s ASG and The Communicator seems to be unique. “That seems crazy to me,” said Rosie Perry, the Editor-in-Chief of the Easterner at EWU. “We have run into a little bit of issues with our student government but nothing to this caliber.” Though the Director of Marketing is the first and only point of contact for reporters at SFCC, Heisler has shown to be repeatedly unresponsive even after conforming to her strict availability. According to ASG the new policy is in place to avoid mis-quotes and misinformation from both The Communicator and student government. It is, however, of the utmost importance to avoid such actions in the newsroom – not only from an ethical perspective but a legal one as well. Taking extra precaution by ASG is certainly understandable but hardly necessary.
“If an elected official … wants to talk, there’s no way the president or even ASG as an entity can legally gag them,” said Hiestand.
The goal of The Communicator is to present reputable information for our readers. The policy currently in place has not been effective as it does not allow the Communicator staff to get that information out to our readers in a timely and plausible manner. The Communicator would like to develop a plan with ASG that is beneficial to both sides and encourage ASG members to communicate with us directly.
Editor in Chief, Sam Jackson, contributed to this article.