DNHC Interview: The Magpie

Is Sasquatch REAL?

Maybe it was that banner headline in the Appalachian that made them do it. Or maybe it was the scant attention the Appalachian newspaper paid to viewpoints which were not in line with those of the administration at Appalachian State University. Either way, the emergence of the Magpie, the High Country’s new alternative newspaper, seems to mark a healthy and long awaited challenge to the status quo.

DNHC sat down recently with Amanda Cardell, Nation and World Editor and Melissa Hanson, Distribution Manager of the Magpie for a wide-ranging discussion about the series of events which led up to the emergence of the new alternative newspaper, their views on the state of news coverage on the ASU campus and in Boone, and their assessment of the impact of media consolidation on democracy.

Hanson, who is affiliated with the Campus Anti-War Network (CAN), pointed to several incidents prior to the creation of the Magpie which led her to question the ability of the Appalachian to accurately cover even the most basic elements of a news story. In particular, she noted errors in the Appalachian’s coverage of CAN events: basic items such as meeting dates, locations, and times. For Cardell, it was a general “dumbing-down” of the Appalachian’s news coverage (she mentioned the “Is Sasquatch Real” article in the Appalachian), along with the Appalachian’s tendency to give voice only to “viewpoints which were similar in philosophy to those expressed by the [ASU] administration” that intensified her interest in developing the Magpie. But for both, it was “the Appalachian’s poor journalistic standards,” whether that meant misquoting interviewees or the newspaper’s tendency to just plain get things wrong - that finally led to the creation of the Magpie.

The type of news coverage which led to the rise of the Magpie can be directly traced to the institutional support the Appalachian receives from ASU. To Hanson, ASU’s financial support of the Appalachian results in the “monopolization of news coverage” which is “not safe” for a community which depends on the free exchange of ideas. In turn, ASU’s financial support for the Appalachian can lead to “limitations being placed on the range of acceptable discussion,” said Cardell.

The relationship between ASU and the Appalachian can be likened to the larger relationship between corporate-owned newspapers and the quality of news coverage that they provide to their readers. Few would expect the reporters of a newspaper owned by a large corporation to aggressively report on their corporate owners, lest they risk losing their jobs. At the Appalachian, who would expect the reporters there to risk offending the hand that feeds them? Indeed, the lack of airing of differing points of view at ASU extends to the campus radio station, WASU-FM. The radio station serves as a laboratory for students majoring in communications, thereby providing the students with the opportunity to learn about the day-to-day operations of a radio station. Hanson said that when she approached WASU-FM with the idea that the station broadcast DemocracyNow!, she was told that she would have to take several classes, and after taking the classes, she might be given some air time – though most likely considerably less air time than the hour-long DemocracyNow! program. While Hanson acknowledged the usefulness of having a technical training ground for students interested in careers in radio, she also noted that the goal of WASU-FM was “profit, not education.”

If you’ve ever wondered what happened to quality investigative journalism, you’re not alone. Hanson and Cardell expressed their concern about the tendency of journalists to engage in stenography as opposed to quality reporting. “Watergate should be a journalistic role model – in terms of the responsibility to be accurate,” said Hanson, when asked what type of journalism she was interested in pursuing. So it should come as no surprise that many of the staff and Editorial Board at the Magpie have their roots in ASU’s Watauga College, a unique living/learning arrangement which allows students to engage in thoughtful discussions and challenging debates with other students and members of the faculty. Students who enroll in Watauga College do so with the expectation that their ways of thinking will be challenged, that difficult questions will be asked of them, and that their academic skills with be tested. Watauga College also requires their students to engage in rigorous research and analysis – in short, all of the basic skills that are required for quality reporting. Cardell said that the Magpie owes much of its existence to Watauga College, which provided a sort of “built in network” of individuals who were interested in establishing a newspaper which was willing to ask serious questions.

Since the start of the Magpie, Cardell said that she has noticed some changes in the way the Appalachian covers the news. “The Appalachian has started covering things that we thought they should cover,” adding that the Appalachian’s improved coverage “allows the Magpie to cover other, more challenging issues,” she said. As the Magpie moves forward, Cardell envisions the newspaper becoming more of a bridge between the campus and the community, one which will approach news coverage from a different direction – neither from the institutional (ASU) point of view nor the corporate point of view.

The results of the current crop of professional journalists, with their unquestioning “reporting” of the events leading up to the Iraq war are in – and they are not good. We hope that the Magpie will continue to ask the questions that need to be asked. In doing so, the Magpie will demonstrate the principle of unembedded journalism – to a new crop of journalism students who will hopefully not allow themselves to become war cheerleaders or corporate enablers.

Amanda Cardell is reading I Couldn’t Keep It To Myself, by Wally Lamb.

Melissa Hanson is reading Expect Resistance by Crimethink Workers Collective.