University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe resigned Monday, having faced pushback from students on the basis that he did not react quickly enough to racism and injustice against students of color. Most recently, Wolfe did not take action after a swastika was allegedly smeared on the wall of a communal restroom with human feces.
Students are standing in protest of Wolfe and the Mizzou administration even after Wolfe’s resignation, quite literally standing their ground on campus. This, in parallel with staunch protests at Yale University over the past two weeks regarding an ill-received email sent by a professor and master of one of the university’s residential colleges. One piece from The Atlantic seems to suggest these protests have gone far past the point of constructivism, however.
Meanwhile, a video surfaced Tuesday depicting a white professor from Mizzou’s communication school audibly asking for violent pushback against student journalists, who had brought their cameras to cover a protest in which students sat in tents on a lawn at the school. The students in question, Tim Tai and Mark Schierbecker, claimed their First Amendment right to free press was infringed upon when the professor, Melissa Click, told them to put their cameras away.
Just days before, according to USA Today, Click posted this statement on Facebook: “Hey folks, students fighting racism on the MU campus want to get their message into the national media. Who among my friends knows someone who would want a scoop into this incredible topic? This story involves the failure of administrators, a student on day 6 of a hunger strike, and creative, fearless students. If you can help, please let me know!”
Apparently, Click later decided the student protestors’ “safe space” was being infringed upon by the media that she invited to cover the event.
Of course, we stand in solidarity with these protestors. Unless we have experienced the racism and horrific threats these students have faced, we can’t possibly identify. That said, we hold that journalism and activism should not be at odds. There must be room for accord between these students and the journalists — specifically student journalists — who wish to bring their stories to light.
In large part, a photojournalist’s duty is to document what is going on and not to have influence upon what is happening. The only point at which one should put down his or her camera is when he or she is could lend help in a grave, perhaps violent situation. In some cases, though, an impactful or thought-provoking photo will do much more to help than standing in solidarity ever would.
It’s understandable that these protesting students may not want certain media outlets to be present and reporting because they don’t believe these outlets can possibly fairly represent them. But in fighting to make this a national story, Click and her fellow advocates illuminated the need for journalists of all kinds to cover this event. To ask for this sort of coverage and then take it away in times of projected “privacy” or in moments you don’t want the world to see is unethical, unproductive and contradictory — especially when gathered in a public space.
The strength of student-run media is the ability to bring to light the issues university-sponsored publications may not report on due to public relations concerns. These college students are in the business of writing news for their peers, not in making the institution look good. In terms of student journalism experience, the opportunity to cover events such as this is an extremely important learning curve. If we want our media to be educated and well rounded so as to fairly represent all groups of people, minority or otherwise, we need to provide an outlet for experience to students who are aspiring journalists — especially because Mizzou is regarded as one of the best journalism schools in the country. Student journalists see these issues first hand, and they are responsible for making them accessible to their peers and to other potential readers around the country.
To say this is not to miss the greater picture here. We understand the disparity between who is covering the story and whom the story is about. In this case, a student journalist shouldn’t have to be inside the story to write — it’s the content of the story that matters, and that content should always remain truthful and unbiased. And selecting someone to cover the story who has directly experienced these specific injustices may lead to the exact bias we should try to avoid.
That being said, it’s pretty presumptuous of a white professor who has studied the First Amendment as a part of her education in becoming a communication professional to believe her stance in a movement has more clout than the stance the entire outside world could take. Even if she is close with this group, she doesn’t live the life of the oppressed and she isn’t being directly affected by institutional racism. These protests took place in a public space and people have the right to be made aware of them. Her attempt to derail student photojournalists only colors the coverage she initially asked for by deciding what will be shown and when it will be shown. As Tai put it, sometimes people forget that freedom of the press is a First Amendment right just as the freedom to assemble is.
It isn’t acceptable, then, for people to tell journalists of any nature that they do not approve of who is representing them, but then not offer a solution. You can’t shame the media without allowing a conversation. And at the same time, no one can choose who covers them. At the end of the day, if you’re making news, you’re making news.
After all, these movements should not profess themselves to exist in a vacuum. Ideally, what is decided at Mizzou or at Yale should have the potential to have an impact on similar tensions around the country. By looking to isolate themselves by keeping the media out, the students are helping themselves, but hurting their mission.
This movement among students was amazing, but this unfortunate video set that movement back. Now, perhaps these students and this professor have realized that because they are still fighting, they should welcome the media. Good journalists don’t set out to distort voices — they set out to amplify them.
