The End of The Daily Universe: An emotional response

"And now, looking back, it's hard to believe that we were building the weapons they would eventually use against us. It's hard to stomach the fact that we helped them along their way. If only we had recognized the slow-burn, the simmer they held us to which led to our eventual demise. But no, this was their plan all along."

Last week, the department of Communications at BYU, the same dept. from which I recently received a degree, announced that they would be changing The Daily Universe into a once-per-week publication rather than a daily newspaper. Accompanying this announcement, it was released that eight employees would lose their jobs by the end of the semester.

Of course, the volunteer and ceremonial dont-shoot-the-messenger-harbinger-of-death spokesperson was "assigned" to present the news in a fashion that only s/he knows how, citing (spinning) the following reason: "We’re making the change to train better journalists and deliver the news the way our readers want it."

Even more, the Department says that the administration wasn't behind this move. Rather, faculty voted on it and presented it to the administration for approval. Oh. Well, in THAT case.

Primarily, I would like to publicly express that I, and many former and current journalism students, believe this is the wrong move. As the faculty waves their hand of dismissal at our opinions and figuratively says, "We know what we're doing here," it's important that at least one voice of disapproval, disappointment and embarrassment find its way to facebook.

We'll start with embarrassment.

Let's not be fooled any longer. This move didn't come just suddenly, or by any sort of accident. The journalism department has been sneaking around, planning this for a long time. It wasn't but last winter semester, when the faculty approached the professional staff (Rich, Kaye, Brandon, RJ, Ellen) and said, "Hey, let's try to use a new online management system for the sports desk. Trust us, we're just going to try it out and see if this works. Oh, and by the way, RJ, will you spend all your time building this new wordpress system? Be sure sure to fix all the flaws ;)"

And despite some kickback from Rich and Kaye about how this new wordpress system wasn't working out, and more kickback from a copy desk that found this new online system to be faulty and difficult to work with, the faculty assured everyone that it would all work out in the end. Trust us, they seemed to mouth.

And then, in the fall, they said, "Hey, i know there were some problems with wordpress last semester, but let's go ahead and make every desk run on this new system. Look, we know what we're doing here. Oh, and RJ, can you train the new students on how to use this?"

And then a new editor-in-chief was installed into the daily universe. To all journalism students, he promptly sent out an email that asked for students to apply to the new DU positions! Happy day! jobs! Hm, that's strange, he's also asking for students that "will help the DU move toward a more web-based focus."

Oh! And RJ, make sure you train all these new employees on the CMS system please?

I'm not exactly sure how long this move has been coming, but it's been a long time coming. RJ, although he may not agree with my analysis, deserves better than this. All eight employees who will lose their jobs deserve better than this. The students deserve better than this. And quite frankly, faculty deserves to treat themselves better than this.

It's just a shame that they've been using student editors and professional staff to implement a system that would eventually cost them their jobs and livelihood. It's embarrassing. And then they cite reasons of why eight people will lose their careers by saying, "We want to deliver news the way our readers want to read it"???

Well, if only I could say: "I want to get an education the way I want to receive it" and have that hold merit enough for eight people to lose their careers. You know, if I had a preference, I wish to receive my education in the Daily Universe newsroom, publishing a daily newspaper, learning the trade from Rich and Kaye and RJ and Brandon. That's how I want to receive an education. That's how a lot of students want to receive it. Who can we fire based upon my preferences?

Also, what kind of smoke screen, David Blaine, Chris Angel deception is being preached by the comms department? The first day of my journalism class after I was admitted to the journalism program, several professors stood before me and told me about how college newspapers weren't dying, and how they continue to have a high readership despite other papers failing. They preached the power of the press and holding a newspaper in your hands. It was magical. Now, a year and a half later, they sing a different tune.

And further, why are people protecting this move? Yeah, we expect to hear from faculty about how much more improved the education will be with our new techy BYU news that is going on the internet (because everyone will be dying to read the daily universe on the slowest server on the planet, with no user-comments allowed. And I'm sure we're all pining to know if they'll move sudoko and nyt crossword puzzles online, too--that way we can just search for the answers on that great website called google! Just the way we want to read our news, remember!) BUT, why are we hearing all this defense from other corners of the world? Why are DU student-editors defending this move? Your journalistic values should tell you right away how wrong this is, and your vehement defense of this is merely giving them more weapons to play with.

And if no one else will say it, I will: The end of The Daily Universe was a formulaic, calculated response to a growing feeling amongst faculty that the Daily Universe was getting too hard to babysit any longer. And instead of standing up for the educational value of a lab of this size, the journalism faculty crumbled under pressure from faculty of other emphasis' who believed the Universe would eventually drain the budget of the whole department.

Look, to most of you, this is just a rant. But to the employees who are losing their jobs, we love you. If students had the chance to grant tenure, we would gladly grant it to you. Ellen, who protected me against the wrath of the broadcast journalists on my many travels to football games, is one of the sweetest, kindest persons you'll ever meet. Brandon, who puts in so much work to make the DU look like an actual paper, and one of BYU's greatest fans, will be missed. RJ, who finds good things to say about everybody and works endlessly to put together a great web product, will be recognized and appreciated magna cum laude at any organization he works for. Kaye, for her kind words, constant stream of encouragement, goofy emails, delicious treats, and a positivity and laugh that is infectious, will always represent a mother away from home to all her students. And Rich, for his realistic values, unique perspective, and the ability to laugh off almost any unfavorable situation, is quite possibly one of the most respected persons in the department. And to the other employees who will lose their jobs, we will miss you all. I am no longer a student at BYU, but I have felt your impact in my life, and I suspect the same can be said for countless others.