Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the "Free mit" campaign. This blog will be the base of operations for all action concerning the agreement currently being negotiated between the Faculty of Information and Media studies and CanWest.
Please check out the links along the side bar as they articulate many of the concerns that people have with affiliating the faculty with a media conglomerate that has betrayed many of the founding principles of 'the free press'.
This agreement is a direct corporate encroachment into a public academic space and it is our responsibility, as both members of the academic and London community, to resist this attack at all cost. Our faculty is NOT for sale and now is the time to raise our voices and prove it.
Stay tuned for details as they become available.
In Solidarity, In Mobilization...
Jeff Preston
Honours MPI III
posted by Jeff at 9:44 p.m.
28 Comments:
The following was posted by Dan Peat on Thursday on the FIMS grad email list. It outlines the proposal very well, just so we have all the facts:
Hello Everyone,
I attended the meeting yesterday as well, just so you have all the information I've attached some facts worth noting.
Sincerely,
Don Peat
President
Master of Arts in Journalism Students' Council
The Canwest Proposal
$1,062,000 endowment- the way endowments work (and why universities value them so much) is that the principal is invested and the interest pays out for awards, salaries, etc. every year, any remainder is put back into the endowment to help shield it from market downturns
What will it pay for?
$2,500 Entrance Scholarship for one Journalism student every year- the student would be selected by the FIMS awards committee and Canwest would have no input or influence
Canwest Global Fellowship in Media Studies- a new chair would be selected every year- most likely a professional journalist- and would teach in the faculty for that year- most likely in journalism. The individual would be selected by a special committee that FIMS forms (of FIMS members) and again Canwest would have no input or influence nor could they revoke the money or fire the chair should he/she publish something their organization disagrees with.
Points to Ponder
Any media company or corporation in general if looked at hard enough, will have some negative incidents
The journalism program is a professional program that operates in the real world, as such, we need to interact with professional media organizations that are operating in that world so that we are better prepared and have the connections to work in the real world.
We send interns to Canwest organizations every year, including this year.
We have alumni who are currently working at Canwest.
Canwest is the largest media corporation in Canada with newspapers and television stations across the country and around the world.
We, the university, approached Canwest for this gift and have been cultivating this deal for 5 years
Journalism students need funding because as professional students we do not qualify for OGS or any other graduate study scholarships including Teaching Assistantships
$2,500 is a semester's tuition for a journalism student.
The deal does not give Canwest any say over who receives their money (scholarship or fellowship) which should calm fears that academic freedom is threatened
FIMS will soon find itself in a deficit situation, endowments are vital to keeping the faculty, and the journalism program, in the black and still ensuring they can provide resources to students
This proposal could lead to larger endowments and a stronger journalism program- to reject it would mean no endowment this time or for some time into the future
Students will go where the money is. With this money, our program is better equipped to attract good students to come to London and enroll.
UBC, Carleton, Ryerson, and several other undergraduate journalism programs have already benefited from Canwest donations and many have Canwest fellowships
Canwest is currently in discussion with our program (and other programs) about establishing a 2 year opportunity similar to the Donaldson award from CBC
What happens now?
The UWO Board of Governors accepts or declines gifts like this based on the recommendation of the faculty's dean, our dean is Catherine Ross.
The faculty council voted on a motion which read:
We advise the dean to recommend to the Board of Governors to not accept the Canwest gift.
The faculty council then added an amendment which allowed for a secret ballot voting process over the next two business days. Voting ends Monday.
The dean makes her recommendation to the Board of Governors sometime within the next few months.
9:41 p.m.
Points to ponder can also be points to reject! hahahah.
9:42 p.m.
Thank you so much for posting the message from Dan Peat. It's nice to have the finer points of the deal in writing.
Although I do agree that almost all corporations have "skeletons in their closets", I don't see why this is an argument that justifies our faculty opening our arms to this agreement. Sure, we may luck out and get a pretty incredible professor out of the deal, but, it does not negate the fact that FIMS will be forever more attached to CanWest, and furthermore, validating some of their previous crimes. I do not understand why we are so eager to get in bed with a company that has spent many years silencing their editorial staff. What message is this sending to our Journalism students? That the corporate office is always right and they should toe the party line at all cost? Are we tell them that when all is said and done, talk is cheap and money speaks volumes?
Some may say this is just me thinking too deeply into the subject, but, that's what our program teaches us to do. MIT, MTP, and MPI teach us how to be critical of everything around us because under every sentence there is a hidden ideological agenda and it is only by navigating these ideological agendas that we can ascertain the true meaning behind communication.
Finally, although there are provisions in the agreement that would ensure FIMS autonomy in selecting the CW Fellow, there is still one major power point that CanWest holds over us all: the $1,062,000. What happens when FIMS picks a Fellow that CanWest isn't too found of? They will either cut the money or will slander us in their papers. What type of effect will this have on enrollment?
These are just some other points to ponder.
10:04 p.m.
sorry Don i didn't mean to get your name wrong.
It was posted by DON Peat.
10:36 p.m.
Jeff:
"under every sentence there is a hidden ideological agenda and it is only by navigating these ideological agendas that we can ascertain the true meaning behind communication"
That's what your degree teaches you? Pretentious twit. My degree teaches me how not to write crap. You see a agendas, I see a million bucks.
Ka-ching
11:13 p.m.
Is it pretension? I am not saying the degree I'm working on makes me any better than anyone else, however, what I am saying is our program attempts to teach us how to be critical of all forms of communication...so, why are we forgetting these lessons now?
As for the money, that's definitely one viewpoint on the subject, just not one I agree with. Thank you for participating in the discussion though!
11:23 p.m.
Just because the faculty needs money, is not a reason to sell out to a company with a dubious record. I would rather be low on cash than morally bankrupt.
11:36 p.m.
yawn
12:30 a.m.
...and don't THANK me, for crying out loud! Your stoopid blog makes me want to burn down a library.
12:34 a.m.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1:13 a.m.
Anony: "Your stoopid blog makes me want to burn down a library."
And yet here you are posting multiple anonymous messages on it (with cool slang and grammar mistakes!).
-K's
the unofficial MITer
http://revolutionthis.blogspot.com
1:14 a.m.
Don and anonymous, thank you. nice to see some plain English being used for a change.
You all want to talk about ideologies? Well, some people have to get jobs and raise families and pay back six years of student loans in about three weeks. And you know what? Ideologies don't mean shit, for the most part, when it comes time for that. Some people are at some point going to be applying for jobs at Canwest papers. And guess what? If the managing editor of the Calgary Herald picks up two resumes, of one student from Carleton and one from Western with the same basic credentials, who do you think he's going to pick?
I suppose you'd suggest we shouldn't have any interest working for a corporation that values politics over democracy. Well, i guess that's easy to say when you aren't the individuals who will be seeking employment from this same corporation in a matter of weeks. And furthermore, your whole pathetic little idealist argument really has no feet, cause after FIMS would receive the money from Canwest, this big evil corporation would have virtually no say or influence in how the money is put to use. Even when taking on a working journalist for a fellowship, we could pick whoever we wished...even someone from The Globe and Mail or any other Sun Media publication.
As a side note, I felt it may come as a newsflash for many of you: the 70's are over. Please, I beg you, put away your hippie ideals just once, out of consideration for your friends in the journalism program. This isn't a profession that pays much, and getting a decent job in the field is already very difficult. I may not write as pretty as all of you, but I hope you're still able to understand that this is important to us as a practical matter. And, quite frankly, I don't know why in the hell I or any of the other hundreds of people who come through this program should willingly be martyrs for something only people outside of this program are arguing against. It doesn't concern you...if you really want to lobby against corporate takeover of academic freedom, head across campus to Ivey. I'm sure you'd get a lot more fuel for the fire there.
3:23 a.m.
"under every sentence there is a hidden ideological agenda and it is only by navigating these ideological agendas that we can ascertain the true meaning behind communication"
That statement is true only if you are looking for hidden ideological agendas - to the extent that I suspect you could find the same subversive messages on a box of Corn Flakes, if that is your motivation. I would be interested to read succinct, well thought out reasons outlining why a prospective merger between CanWest and FIMS would be detrimental to that faculty; thus far, all I have seen are Socialist buzzwords.
4:28 a.m.
Well, Ka-boom
I've enjoy venting my spleen on this site. As for grammar, what use is it when all you can write is a great steaming pile of nonsense?
4:29 a.m.
xtream, I recommend you read the open letter written by Prof. Dyer-Witheford. I think it clearly outlines why this agreement needs to be resisted and I'm sure you will find it very easy to read.
9:24 a.m.
As a journalism student, there are a number of points I’d like to reiterate, many of which are disclosed in Don Peat’s email (which was posted without his knowing, I might add).
Almost a quarter of the current class of journalism students recently completed internships at CanWest organizations. None of them returned with horrible tales of being bound, gag and beaten by vicious CanWest management.
As far as I’ve heard, CanWest did not force students to abandon their journalistic integrity either.
Does CanWest have problems as a media organization? Yes. Is it a completely abhorrent organization? No. There are many journalists doing valuable work at CanWest papers and televisions stations, many of who are graduates from our program. Dismissing CanWest as being only a terrible corporation is a reductive academic argument.
Consider the fact that the Canadian Newspaper Association has nominated some of CanWest's papers for awards for excellence in journalism:
http://www.cna-acj.ca/client/CNA/cna.nsf/web/NNA2004nominees
Demonizing all of CanWest is disrespectful to the journalists there who do, in fact, offer significant reporting.
I’m also curious about what impact rejecting the endowment would have for the MIT and library sciences’ programs as well. Would the loss of support for the journalism program and a journalism scholarship affect MIT and library sciences’ students? My guess is that it would have little, if any, impact on these other prograrms.
It’s easy to criticize an endowment when its rejection would have an insignificant impact on your program. To me, this smacks of the worst form of ivory tower idealism.
And honestly, do MIT students and faculty think they’re so important and dangerous that CanWest would want to indoctrinate them with its message?
Your sense of self-importance might need to be re-examined.
What real impact would the rejection have on CanWest? Is CanWest going to go home to Winnipeg and sob into its pillow, “Those beautiful MIT students rejected me! I’m so ugly!”
Rejecting the endowment will have little impact on CanWest.
The rejection could, however, have far-reaching effects on the journalism program. To reinforce the point, the endowment does not allow CanWest to interfere in FIMS. The focus of this endowment is supporting the journalism department, echoing the support that CanWest has given to other journalism schools in Canada.
This brings up another fact mentioned in Don’s email, which has been consistently overlooked in the midst of ideological ranting. The largest journalism schools in the country, Carleton, Ryerson and UBC, have ALL accepted scholarship money or endowments from CanWest. Western’s public rejection of such an endowment would cause the journalism program to lag behind these schools.
The loss of this endowment could have lasting negative effects on the journalism program that few on this blog have stopped to consider.
1:32 p.m.
Chris, I have a few responses to your post.
“Reducing the debate to idealists versus realists misses the point.”
Reducing my argument to ‘idealists versus realists’ misses my point. The loss of the endowment will affect journalism students the most. Those who criticize the endowment from the MIT and library camps might be overlooking this. Greater consideration should be paid its impact on journalism students, rather than spouting off when the endowment’s loss matters little to you.
“If there's no one whose money isn't good, "realism" is nothing but naked self-interest.”
My comments pertain to CanWest. I have not said that UWO should accept money from anyone and everyone so please abstain from exercising hyperbolic argumentation. It’s unbecoming.
"You are journalism students , being coerced tommorow doesn't mean you have to be today. Have some dignity."
Definition of coerce- ‘persuade or restrain by force’
Journalism students are not being coerced by accepting a strings-free endowment. All the other major journalism schools in Canada have benefited from CanWest’s scholarships and support in the past.
As for the 'dignity' comment, I take offensive to the suggestion that journalism students don't have dignity if they favour accepting the endowment. This is a poor argumenative strategy meant to shame those are in favour of the endowment.
“And don't cite your personal time at CanWest as proof that it’s ok.”
I object to another misinterpretation of my point. My mention of the connections between CanWest and UWO was meant to demonstrate, (although apparently not as transparently as I’d have liked), that CanWest has already been supporting students here for many years and the school encourages students to pursue opportunities with CanWest.
Rejecting the endowment is a two-faced move that does not benefit UWO's students.
“Refusing to do business with a body deemed unethical is a common tactic and has worked in numerous cases.”
This is a good argument, but it’s misguided when applied here. Not everyone agrees that CanWest is utterly unethical. If they did, why are its papers being nominated for journalistic excellence?
To quote Hilda’s post: “What will effect change are well-trained young journalists with a good education in critical thinking. If FIMS rejects this grant, it will cripple its own ability to produce those types of journalists.”
Re: CanWest: “be aware of its record before characterizing it as fine based on your own limited experience there.”
I find this suggestion to be quite condescending. A journalism student’s view of all media outlets is informed both by critical academic study of media outlets, along with first-hand experience working for them.
Journalism students are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of CanWest so please refrain from trying to lecture us.
4:17 p.m.
Came across this today:
http://www.caut.ca/en/issues/commercialization/default.asp
I think it is interesting and pretty relevant. I'm glad to see people discuss this, though I'd like to see less characterization as an irrelevant leftists.
I think it is important to iterate that no one wants to take money away from journalism students. A million dollars is a great boon for a department. I can totally sympathize with Journalism students who feel that we are encroaching on THEIR source of funding and why they feel that we are sticking our noses into THEIR business. There if a fundamental crisis in University funding over the last few years that has created some really desperate situations which every student feels in tuition costs.
Having said that, there is something inherently stinky about CanWest’s policies and procedures, subsequently an endowment from them. I’m glad you have positive stories about your internships there because the only places that seem to have positive accounts of CanWest are CanWest. And that is where, for me, the difference lies between Rogers and Bell: no one would deny that Rogers and Bell are big problematic corporations, etc. etc. But neither have the outrageous track record of documented scandalous actions that CanWest has. Being from Ottawa, and being a writer for about 13 years (both private and corporate I will add), I have first hand accounts amongst my friends and colleagues who worked for the National Post. But please, feel free to provide evidence to the contrary. I think balanced views should be championed here, and there has been a lot of clear impassioned discussion here.
I feel the same about CanWest as I do when I hear about medical researchers taking money from Imperial Tabacco. I feel the same about CanWest when I hear the rumor of US military interests funding research at Universities. I think “why”? IF there are no strings attached, why give money? Something inside me doesn’t think its out of generosity and ‘bon ton’.
The other thing I’d like to reject is the “Ivory Tower” designation and “the real world” argument. I am 33 years old. I graduated with an M.A. from Carleton in the 90’s and have been in that “real” world, and in the “Ivory Tower”. Because I have a degree in Literature I have been a cook, a sous chef and a waiter for more years than i care to remember.I have also been an editor, and technical writer. I have worked for one of the largest high technology corporations in the world for over 2 years. I have worked for free, and I have been paid really, really well for 40-70 hour work week grind. And I’m not in library school for the theory. The MLIS is a professional degree as well, designed to give you the skills to do a job. My “real-world” experience is why I find the CanWest deal disturbing. You may be surprised at the accomplishments and actions of your profs and younger students. Characterizing people as being stuck in an “ivory tower” discredits much of the important work they do in the interest of culture and society.
Finally, I’d like to apologize to Don Peat. I didn’t mean to post your email anonymously and didn’t mean to get your name wrong. I don’t usually hide behind anonymity and certainly didn’t mean to in this case. I felt that it provided an excellent context from someone who was there, has a vested interest in the outcome, and represented the views of Journalism students incredibly well, and so posted it in the interest of balance. If this bothered you, I sincerely apologize and suggest you ask Jeff to take it down, as I’m sure he would.
David Jackson
6:44 p.m.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
8:00 p.m.
Thanks for the comments David.
I just have a couple of quick responses to make.
“I think it is important to iterate that no one wants to take money away from journalism students.”
I appreciate this comment. I do wonder, however, how rejecting the million–dollar endowment will ultimately bring money to help the journalism program and its students develop. This is an issue which I don’t think has been considered in enough depth.
In the much-cited letter by Professor Nick Dyer-Witheford (something I still question for it being fed to his students), he makes no explicit mention of the effects on journalism students if the endowment is rejected.
As for the “ivory tower” comment, I also hold an M.A. in English and am well aware of the innumerable important accomplishments of academics. To clarify my original point:
“It’s easy to criticize an endowment when its rejection would have an insignificant impact on your program. To me, this smacks of the worst form of ivory tower idealism.”
My intention was to illustrate, in this particular case, that few of the previous blog posts rejecting the endowment took into consideration the perspective of those most affected--journalism students. Criticism that is detached from the reality of people most affected is problematic. I’m pleased that your own post has shown more consideration.
None of the journalism students have attempted to present CanWest as a pristine media organization. We’re intimately aware of its failings through study, personal experiences or those experiences of our colleagues. We’re also aware, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly, that there are journalists doing valuable work at CanWest. I’ve seen little acknowledgement of this from those opposed to the endowment. We all would like to see CanWest improved, but rejecting this endowment would likely have little impact on that development. And it would very likely have resounding detrimental effects on journalism students who lack the support that those at Carleton and UBC have already received.
For those interested, here are a couple of links concerning CanWest’s funding of the other two graduate programs in journalism in Canada.
http://www.carleton.ca/duc/News/news12160402.html
http://www.journalism.ubc.ca/faculty_claude.html
10:47 p.m.
Please note that the library student council has decided to prevent Mary Doyle, a journalism instructor, from speaking during Monday's open forum on the CanWest endowment.
Mary is the only faculty representative from the journalism program who would have been taking part in the forum.
It is my understanding that the library student council pulled Mary from tomorrow's forum because of a notion of "playing fair" to the original two speakers, speakers who were chosen without input from journalism students.
Mary was not included in the initial speaker's list since the library council, which started organizing this forum, overlooked having representation from the journalism faculty to inform students of the two faculty perspectives on the CanWest gift.
Mary was later added at the request of some journalism students.
Dean Ross speaks on behalf of administration for all of FIMS-the MIT, library and journalism programs.
Professor Dyer-Witheford represents MIT.
I would like to voice my opposition to the censoring of Mary Doyle and to the denial of representation from the journalism faculty in this dialogue.
7:57 p.m.
Nice site i came here searching for affiliate partner program and was looking for other people who are interested in affiliate partner program
You might be interested in affiliate partner program
7:41 a.m.
Jeff, you have a great blog here. Welcome! caught my eye and I thought I would put a post on it. I'm looking for help.
The site I have is a work from home site. Its all about, need I say it, working from home. I think people should have the choice to build their own income instead of somebody else’s. Freedom of well being and all of that...anyway I was on your site looking for ways to help my business. I'm really looking for ways of building better rapport between recruits.
Anyways Jeff thanks for the great blog. I'll just have to carry on my search till I find what I'm looking for. Take care.
1:16 p.m.
Why can't more sites be as good as yours!!! You see I am changing my life at the moment and I have decided to start a in-home business site. I am trying to get inspiration so I can become easier to talk to. You site has given me some ideas. I talk to a wide range of people and I need to relate to everyone I come across so thanks for your posts! The title 'Welcome!' caught my eye so I thought I'd post on this one. Cheers.
6:52 a.m.
Jeff, why can't more sites be as good as yours!!! You see I am changing my life at the moment and I have decided to start a www.createmoneyathome.com site. I am trying to get inspiration so I can become easier to talk to. You site has given me some ideas. I talk to a wide range of people and I need to relate to everyone I come across so thanks for your posts! The title 'Welcome!' caught my eye so I thought I'd post on this one. Cheers.
6:23 a.m.
I was searching around for info on how to start a home based business. I found your blog Jeff.
I was reading your post and believe it or not it’s helped me. Every tip I get helps, even if its just new phrases I have never used before, its helps me be a better mentor. This is my business link - work from home - check it out and see what you think.
Anyways Jeff, you have a good site. I'll be back.
1:56 a.m.
Jeff,
I saw your post
regarding programs marketing .
You are welcome to place a link to
your blog or website on my high
traffic website for free. See:
http://www.thefreeadforum.com
The Free Ad Forum is a forum where you may
post your permanent search engine friendly ads daily for
free. I hope you take advantage of this free advertising
opportunity, We have a special section just for programs marketing .
Thank you,
John,
http://www.thefreeadforum.com
The Free Advertising Forum.
1:26 p.m.
Looking for information and found it at this great site... mazda 3 buddy icons http://www.liposuction-9.info Withdraw paxil muscle pain High performance pontiac magazine subscription
2:10 a.m.
Post a Comment
<< Home