When Meghan Moravcik
became editor of the Daily Kent Stater for the fall 2003 semester,
she posted flyers asking people to apply for staff positions on
the university newspaper. She says made sure to place them in buildings
such as Bowman, Satterfield and Oscar Ritchie, where plenty of
students with different ideas on race, religion, politics and other
social issues would see them.
“We thought we were going to get people who would say, ‘Oh,
the Stater’s pissed me off in the past, and I want to get in
there and change it!’” she remembers. “We got nothing.”
She says diversifying the predominantly white staff at the Stater
has been something several editors have tried to do before with similar
results. Despite the lack of minorities in the newsroom, though,
Moravcik says readers of color feel comfortable using the paper as
a forum for voicing their opinions.
But E. Timothy Moore, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
and adviser to the student media publication Uhuru, argues that Kent
State needs another magazine that can cover issues relating to minority
groups in more depth.
"Uhuru is the descendant of a journalistic tradition that started
in the late ‘60s,” he explains, noting that the publication
had been called The Black Watch and Spectrum in previous incarnations. “It
was a voice for black students who felt the Stater would not reflect
their views accurately or in their totality.”
“There’s still a need on this campus for an alternate voice
to the Stater and the Burr,” he later adds. Moore says Uhuru
lets students of all racial, cultural and religious backgrounds contribute
their thoughts without restrictions on space or AP Style guidelines.
Editor Shenika Oliver, a graduate student in the Media Management
sequence of JMC, says that Uhuru draws much of its support from the
Department of Pan-African Studies although it receives allocations
from the Student Media Policy Committee. She says her staff of 15
people is a fairly even mix of white, black and other ethnicities.
Other student media outlets such as WKSR and TV-2 have also drawn
a diverse group of students.
WKSR General Manager Jennifer Bernat says the station does not actively seek
minorities during open auditions, but has a diverse staff anyway.
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Jen Bernat, senior communication
studies major and electronic media productions minor, serves
as the General Manager of WKSR.
Brandon Miller, freshman photojournalim
major, hosted a Friday evening radio show at WKSR.
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“We embrace all diversity that comes our way, whether it
is through minorities working on our staff or just introducing
different
kinds of music to our audience,” she says.
Former TV-2 General Manager Keith Potoczak says one of his goals
in selecting on-air and technical positions last semester was to
achieve a mix of people with different ethnic backgrounds on each
day.
“That way, people learn about each other, and they learn to work in a
diverse environment,” he says. “Of course, just like most things,
it can always get better.”
JMC tries to improve minority enrollment numbers
JMC addresses racial diversity in curriculum, classroom
Story by Rekha Sharma
Photos by Sarah McCrory
Design by Paul Bucalo |
