'IDS' should tolerate freelancing

There's something amiss in Ernie Pyle Hall, the building that houses both the IU School of Journalism and the offices of the IDS.\nThe relationship between these two entities is cordial, for the most part. But academic tempers tend to flare when professors or graduate students think the IDS has erred -- whether in print, behavior or policy.\n That's what happened last week, when a graduate student in the School of Journalism was told she could no longer write for the IDS because she had contributed articles to another Bloomington news medium. This student -- Durga Raghunath -- was not a regular, everyday IDS staff member but, nonetheless, she was on the newspaper's payroll. And she has written four stories this semester, in addition to seven last semester.\nAccording to the IDS code of ethics, "Staff members may string for other newspapers or wire services to get additional experience or income, unless such work conflicts with their IDS responsibilities. However, IDS staff members may not work for competing area news media, with the exception of the Associated Press …"\nThis policy, along with the rest of the code of ethics, is under consideration by a committee that has been charged to examine and, if necessary, make revisions.\nThe committee's task is a daunting one, made no less difficult because of disputes between the academic and professional schools of thought that are present -- and sometimes at odds -- in Ernie Pyle Hall. \nRaghunath wrote about science, technology and the environment for the IDS world section. The Bloomington Independent published a column by Raghunath in its Feb. 8 edition. The subject of this column was the politics and public policy of India. \nSoon after her column ran in the Independent, Raghunath said she received e-mail from the IDS that said she could no longer write for the latter publication. When she asked for an explanation, Raghunath was told she had violated the policy cited above by writing for the Independent -- a publication with which the IDS considers itself in competition.\n"I think the IDS is entertaining delusions of grandeur if they are considering themselves as competition for the Herald-Times, the Independent, etc.," Raghunath said. "They are taking things a little too far."\nIs the IDS a competitor in the local media market? Yes and no. Yes, because IDS reporters work hard to report the news that matters to their readers. They take pride in scooping newspapers such as the Herald-Times and the Independent. The IDS operates financially independent from the University, and its entire staff strives toward professionalism -- an admirable goal in and of itself. \nThe IDS is not a competitor in the local media market because of its inherent pedagogical nature. It is a working laboratory -- a proving ground, of sorts -- for student journalists. As such, it enjoys unique opportunities but is subjected to intense scrutiny. For example, the ability of the IDS to operate independent of University oversight gives it great journalistic freedom, but its sometimes-rocky relationship with the School of Journalism makes it a target for constant criticism.\n"The main issue is that there is no consistency," Elizabeth Saloom, another graduate student in the School of Journalism, said. "The IDS editors should know the policy; they should tell their writers. And the professors should know, so that they don't encourage us to write for different papers."\nSaloom has written for both the IDS and the Herald-Times. Raghunath informed the IDS of this fact when lodging her own complaints in the aftermath of her dismissal from the paper, and now both students doubt they will ever get another byline in the IDS. \nObviously, something has to give. \nFortunately, there are a few possibilities. \nThe IDS ethics committee could (and should) revise the IDS freelancing policy so that it better addresses the meaning of the term "staff member." Right now the policy's language is vague. The ethics committee should make a concerted effort to explicitly delineate the meanings of "staff member" and "freelancer." \nIDS management insists the newspaper has no freelancers. Graduate students such as Raghunath and Saloom disagree. They don't think of themselves as staff members. With clear, unambiguous definitions of "staff member" and "freelancer" on the books, someone would be right and someone would be wrong. Right now neither side is capable of winning this ideological dispute.\nAnd the IDS could make an effort to more clearly define its identity and what it wants from its reporters, editors and columnists. "I'm approaching this from the perspective of the grad students," said Dave Boeyink, a journalism professor. "They need every opportunity to get stories published, and sometimes the material they write isn't always appropriate for the same publication." \nBoeyink also said the IDS should institute a policy of "first refusal," under which the IDS would get "first crack" at graduate students' stories. "If they don't want it, then the grad student can take his or her material elsewhere," Boeyink said.\nThe paper has shown a willingness to employ graduate students and other non-undergraduates as columnists and, as evidenced above by the examples of Raghunath and Saloom, reporters. This shouldn't be discontinued, but the IDS management staff should make an effort to be more tolerant of freelancing.\nThe IDS management expressed fear that making room for freelancing would undermine the paper's "independence." This might be a legitimate worry now, but with a revised code of ethics in place that clearly defines what a "freelancer" is and is not, such fears would be unfounded. The IDS would have a solid, detailed policy on which to base its decisions, and disputes such as the one illustrated in this column would be far less common.\nIndeed, doing its part to improve the relationship between the two camps in Ernie Pyle Hall is a step in the right direction for the IDS. Its readers deserve professionalism and hard work, but its writers -- undergraduates and graduates alike -- deserve the freedom and opportunity that its unique place within the local media market affords them.