SPJ made mistake in selecting Madigan

October 10, 2005 —

Being a public medium that strives to represent the voice of its student readership, the Valley Vanguard would like to offer congratulations to this year's Sunshine Award recipient, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The award is given to an individual or individuals who strive to improve access to government records, and Madigan was selected for her work involving the Freedom of Information and Open Meetings acts.

We would also like to extend our thanks to the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) who sponsor the award and continue to cite, "improving and protecting journalism," as their mission. The SPJ took great measures to name an individual they felt was worthy of the prestigious award and, in the end, they simply could not have selected a lesser deserving individual.

This is not the first time Madigan has made her way into a "Vanguard Vision." While not specifically mentioned, Madigan played a part in a decision that prompted the Aug. 25 Vision that opposed a censorship ruling involving a college newspaper. The Federal Court decision stemmed from a case where the Governors State University student newspaper, The Innovator, had to seek administrative approval before publishing its issue. In that Vision, we vehemently opposed the decision which vacated a ruling made three years earlier that said such a demand was in violation of the First Amendment. The first decision was allowed to be vacated because a petition was filed in the Illinois court of appeals on behalf of Dean Patricia Carter; a petition that was filed by none other than Lisa Madigan.

It seems counterproductive for an organization such as the SPJ to give an award recognizing work to improve public knowledge to an individual attempting to curtail it. To be in favor of the public's right to know yet supporting an attempt to censor a public medium is completely hypocritical. Clearly, Madigan believes that newspapers are excellent ways of delivering public information, since they represent the majority of those who utilize the acts she advocates. So, in the end, her decision to support Carter and her university must mean she is the type that changes their tune when it comes to young people being the ones delivering that information.

Madigan doesn't need to feel alone though, since she is not the only one with a seat at this hypocritical merry-go-round. The SPJ is just as guilty and should be ashamed of its decision. It will honor Madigan later this month in Las Vegas during its annual convention, which is ironic, since Vegas is filled with cheaters and anyone associated with the SPJ should feel cheated that Madigan is getting this award. Rather than spending its money on the convention, perhaps it should be using the money to fight the decision set in motion by its guest of honor.

The hypocrisy doesn't end there, either. In order to be honored, one must first be nominated. Madigan's nomination came from the Chicago Headline Club (CHC), a professional chapter of the oldest journalism society in the United States. Like the SPJ, the CHC's mission statement is also to improve and protect journalism as well as better journalism standards, recognize excellence, advance the cause of freedom of information and, ironically, to encourage young journalists. In its statement, the CHC said of Madigan, "In an era when reporters across the country are battling law enforcement officials to retain the rights to information that they had previously taken for granted, Lisa Madigan has been a champion of public access to information and of a reporter's duty to shine a light on the darkened back rooms of Illinois Government."

And while Madigan may indeed be lighting up those darkened government rooms, she's also trying to leave college newspapers and their reporters in the dark.

This paper advocates the First Amendment and a college newspaper's right to publish without censorship. We encourage readers to look into the online petitions about the Governors State University case as well as Madigan winning the Sunshine award. We like to believe that, through newspapers, readers can obtain unbiased, uncensored facts.

But when the facts involve a journalist society giving a freedom of information award to an official who supports college newspaper censorship - well, the truth is the hardest thing to believe.