Our
View: Daily Forty-Niner responds to Union
From beginning to end, the Union Weekly’s “Our View on Their View” “editorial” spews
skewed facts and accuses the Daily Forty-Niner of somehow hiding the truth.
The real concealers of the truth are those at the Union Weekly who consistently
mix in pieces of fact with fiction in order to get across whatever agenda it
has any given week.
Let’s address the accusations one by one.
First, the Union article claims the Forty-Niner is trying to hide the fact
that the referendum will pass by a simple majority vote of 50 percent plus
one. In reality, this information has been in every single referendum pamphlet
passed out by the Daily
Forty-Niner since the referendum’s conception. Any student who knows
how to read would have had access to this
information. It is not something the Forty-Niner is trying to hide.
Second, the Union claims the College of Liberal Arts bailed the Forty-Niner
out after the failed referendum last year.
In actuality, the College of Liberal Arts donated money to the paper before
the referendum. This fact was even cited at the Associated Students Inc. referendum
meetings last year. How this managed to escape the attention of the Union members
who attended the meeting in person is beyond us.
Third, the Union accuses the Forty-Niner of going through a “loophole” and “bypassing” ASI.
As we have said before, the Forty-Niner went through the Student Fee Advisory
Committee, the committee in charge of handling student fees.
Let’s pose this question to the students. Which makes more sense: presenting
a student fee request to ASI or presenting a student fee request to the Student
Fee Advisory Committee?
Fourth, the Union also claims the Forty-Niner is costing students more money
by holding a special election that could “easily” have been held
in conjunction with the ASI elections. What the Union fails to cite is the
Daily Forty-Niner had no jurisdiction over that decision.
In fact, our paper wanted the referendum to be on the same ballot in order
to save students’ time and money. However, the decision was made by a
subcommittee of the Student Fee Advisory Committee. This subcommittee also
wrote and dispersed the voter information that showed arguments for and against
the referendum.
Fifth, the Union claims the Forty-Niner has no plan for how the money will
be used. Yet the Union specifically mentions part of our plan — a 12-page
daily paper.
In reality, the plan has been clearly laid out in every Forty-Niner editorial
and referendum pamphlet printed or passed out. In addition, anyone wanting
specific information regarding financial reports has been encouraged to call
or e-mail the contacts listed in both the paper and the pamphlets.
Better yet, the financial report showing exactly where the money will go is
also available at all four poll locations on campus during the vote.
The remaining portion of the Union’s article tries to say the Forty-Niner
is undeserving of a student fee. It claims all we do is “sit back” and
write irrelevant stories and, in past semesters, used too many U-wire articles.
Never mind the fact national newspapers and other daily college publications
routinely run at least 20 to 25 percent wire articles. Using this logic, the
New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register
are non-credible publications.
The Daily Forty-Niner occasionally runs U-wire. However, our focus is and always
will be campus news.
We want to let the students of CSULB be the judge of what is relevant and what
is not. The Daily Forty-Niner has continually broken many relevant and important
stories to the students of this campus.
Anyone who has read the Daily Forty-Niner can probably think of examples, but
we’ll give you one anyway. Last semester, we published an article before
the Long Beach Press-Telegram and every other publication or broadcast outlet,
saying President F. King Alexander had been chosen as the replacement to former
CSULB President Robert C. Maxson.
This semester we have given unbiased and full coverage of the student elections.
This includes coverage from both sides of the story. A specific example were
the accusations to ASI President Jamie Pollock, in which both she and her critic
published statements on the opinion page.
When students want truthful, unbiased and consistent coverage of issues affecting
them, they turn to the Daily Forty-Niner.
Vote yes today and tomorrow on the 49er and Dig Referendum to increase our
capacity to do this.
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