North Carolina Newspapers

( 10The Daily Tar HeelFriday, September 24, 1982 the Si ci 1 l" T PTlP dm Mm oils t UiVvU 90th year of editorial freedom JOHN DROGHER, Editor ANN PETERS, Managing Editor Kerry DeRochi, isod stow Rachel Perry, Unwtmty Editor ALAN CH APPLE, City Editor JIM WRINN. Stofr and National Editor Linda Robertson, Sports Editor Laura Seifert, nu Editor KEN MlNGIS, Associate Editor Elaine McClatchey, v4 tof SUSAN HUDSON, Features Editor Leah T alley, Editor Teresa Curry, Weekend Editor AL STEELE, Photography Editor Lights, camera Beginning Oct. 18, Perry Mason comes to the courtroom. At least that may be the result of a ruling Wednesday by the North Carolina Supreme Court that will allow television, radio and photographic coverage to begin in some North Carolina courtrooms. The high court's decision represents an important step toward opening the courtrooms to the public through the use of the media. The ruling, which allows in-court media coverage in a limited number of state trial and appellate courts, is the result of a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enabled states to allow cameras in the courtroom. Thirty-four states have begun some measure of photographic coverage. Opponents of cameras in the courtroom have argued that they would interfere with normal court proceedings. At some sensationalized trials in the 1950s, bright lights and overzealous photographers often interrupted court proceedings. Specifically, the decision requires that photographic equipment remain out of sight and sound of the court. No special lighting may be used, and no modifications of the courtroom will be made at taxpayer expense. Cameras cannot photograph the jury, and coverage of certain witnesses, such as informants or victims of sex crimes, would be prohibited. Coverage of certain types of trials including divorce cases, juvenile pro ceedings and others also would be banned. North Carolina Chief Justice Joseph Branch has said he was concerned that with cameras in the courtroom, the possibility of finding an impartial jury, if the case were retried, would be difficult. With trial coverage already splashed across TV and radio, it would be hard for viewers not to form an opinion. Branch has a valid point. But the new ruling also allows the presiding judge at a trial to ban photographic equipment from the court if he feels it necessary. The benefits to the public education of court proceedings outweigh the potential disadvantages. Modern technology allows cameras to enter the courtroom almost undetected, and judges can stop coverage of a trial if they find it necessary. The two-year experimental period for the ruling will provide the state and members of the media ample opportunity to determine if cameras in the courtroom can provide a public service without endangering the fairness of court proceedings. This column is reprinted from the Sept. 17 edition of the Winston-Salem Sentinel. By JOHN DRESCHER With the first home football game of the year here tomorrow, there won't be much studying going on this weekend. Not that there would have been if there wasn't a game. With life's largest problems midterms still weeks away, not many scholars here have been getting too worked up about academics. Instead they have been renewing the rites of September. Sorority hopefuls in search of a bid have been traipsing around town in every gawdy color known to man, subjec ting themselves to the hoots and catcalls of males and the head-shaking admonitions of feminists. Meanwhile, near ly every night fraternities have been luring innocent freshmen males and other gullible rushees to their parties, each house vying with the others and the Chapel Hill Police Department to see which fraternity can have the loudest, longest and best-attended party. On campus, stereos blasting from residence hall windows show that the dormies also are contributing to the studious atmosphere. Yet with all the current relaxation and foolishness, there remains an underlying concern, especially among up perclassmen, about their purpose for being here, and more importantly, what they will do once they leave Chapel Hill. In between classes, social life and Heisman Trophy talk, most of them have stumbled upon news reports that tell of the highest unemployment rate since 1941. That's sobering enough news to startle anybody who will be graduating from the University in the next year or two. That concern with employment is what sets this genera tion of college students apart from its counterparts from recent decades. The frequent comparison between today's students and the students of the 1960s and early '70s is stark and vivid Today's typical student doesn't boycott classes, stage sit-ins and protests, or rebel against confor mity in society. He is part of that conformity. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Yet he probably has a better idea of the realities of life than his cohorts from the '60s. Those reminiscing ad mirers of the protest days frequently forget the naivete of the '60s student. In evaluating the two generations of students, objective observers say today's student is more sophisticated. The '60s student went to college to get educated. He did not worry about getting a job; unemployment was low. The '80s student goes to college to get a job. placement official to a Daily Tar Heel reporter. Well, kind of. She added: "However, when it comes to hiring or even interviewing, many want the practical-major graduates." That means recruiters believe in liberal arts backgrounds when they can afford to take a chance. And now many cannot. All of us here know bright, articulate recent graduates who did well at this institution (a school a New York The frequent comparison between today's students and the students of the 1960s and early 70s is stark and vivid. Today's typical student doesn't boycott classes, stage sit-ins and protests, or rebel against conformity in society. He is part of that conformity. Then there is the comparison between today's student and the student of his parents' generation, the 1950s graduate. Because of the similarities, a mistaken conclu sion is often drawn. Yes, men have short hair and women wear skirts. And yes, football Saturdays are big and the Greek system is thriving. . But there's one major difference, and it affects educa tional philosophy more than khakis and button-downs: the '50s graduate knew he had a job when he graduated. With it came the chance for advancement that stimulated ambition. He had the opportunity to make more money than his parents and have a higher standard of living. That's all changed. ' The current trend toward technical and "practical" degrees is unmistakable. Although the trend has been in the making for about a decade, it is likely to become more intense if unemployment continues to rise, Tell all the talk of the value of a liberal arts education to an English, history or classics major. "Recruiters are believers in liberal arts," said one UNC Times education guide called one of the top colleges in the nation) that cannot find a job. We see them, talk to them on the phone, read their letters and sense their desperation and frustration. It hits close to home. One can't help but wonder, "What's going to happen to me?" So it is a different breed of student that is here today. The ambition of the 50s and the idealism of the '60s and early '70s has faded to the practicality and hesitancy of the '80s. Now, at the beginning of the academic year, there is the optimism and eagerness inherent with a fresh beginn ing. But it will take something better than an unemploy ment rate of 9.8 percent to sustain that optimism until spr ing, when the UNC Class of '83 becomes part of the Job Seeking Class of '83. . r John Drescher, a senior journalism and history major from Raleigh, is editor of The Daily Tar Heel. Teaching is important too To the editor: .- Before serving on a faculty search com mittee, I had only vague notions about how professors are hired at the University. Working with that group opened my eyes to the internal politics and issues involved in selecting new faculty members. I wish every student who cares to know about this process could experience it first-hand, but most will learn of it through The Daily Tar Heel. This is unfortunate, since the ar ticle, "Research abilities emphasized in hiring professors" (D7H, Sept. 22) gave a distorted view of the real situation. - The headline told us much "Research abilities emphasized in hiring professors." The rest of the story sought to substantiate that claim and another editorial assertion in the second paragraph that teaching ability is playing less of a role in hiring faculty. Both statements are false, at least where r- Editor's note To the editor... Because of their brevity, diversity and controversy, letters to the editor of The Daily Tar Heel have always attracted attention. With the exception of the "Per sonals" on page 2, the letters, tojhe editor section is . probably the most widely read part of the paper. . ' Because the DTH feels an obligation to offer as many opinions as possible, it prints almost every letter it receives, including those critical of the paper. In fact, a letter critical of the paper is given the highest priority and usually is run as the lead letter so that it receives a headline and prominent attention. Editorial pages thrive on dissent, and this page traditionally has had its share. ; ' " This year has been no exception. Most notable was a series of exchanges that began when Jason E. Dow dle of Chapel Hill wrote a- three-paragraph letter "Israel at fault " (DTH, Sept. 7) that ended, "Hitler created a monster." One letter writer then criticized the DTH for printing Dowdle's letter, saying, "Such thoughtless stuff surely deserves no place in a responsi ble newspaper." Perhaps the writer was correct. It is debatable, though, at what point responsible newspapers censor their readers who write to them. But what followed the original letter were thoughtful, courteous and respect ful letters and columns taking different opinions by Rina S. Wolfgang and Dowdle. After Dowdle's original letter, I found their exchange interesting and informative, an editorial page fulfilling its primary purpose of the intelligent discussion of ideas. Not that all letters must be concerned with world problems. On Sept. 14, a letter was printed from Jean Hayes ("Something stirring'') on the need for salvation. It was printed because it was one of those days and, well, we needed something to fill a small space. Gary McConnell then pointed out in "Anything goes" (DTH, Sept. 15) that, since the DTH was such an open forum, he wanted to say that he would like to live on Tenney Circle and that he liked chocolate ice cream best. When DTH editorial assistant Scott. Bolejack defended the open letter policy in a column and invited McConnell to write us his shoe size and favorite color, McConnell did and it was printed. Yes, there are times when the letter supply gets a bit low. Then there are the letters we receive from enraged administration officials and Student Government leaders. Although letters are occasionally edited for clarity and space, we especially try not to alter letters from Student i Government and administration representatives. When Campus Governing Council member Dan Bryson wrote us, we printed the letter as we received it, with a "sic" after 1 1 words to show on ly that the errors were spelling mistakes and not typographical errors. Then we received this letter: To the editor: I have often wondered about the meaning of the ex pression "sic 'em," and now I know. It's what editors do to intimidate persons who write letters critical of their newspaper. However, in their haste to add 11 "sics" to Dan Bryson's letter, the Tar Heel's staff introduced at least 10 new assorted grammatical and diction errors; either that, or the editors did not notice and "sic" these, which makes their rather pompous treatment of Bryson's letter a class case of the pots calling the kettle black. In any case, the addition of the "sics" was an insult to someone on the top student organization on cam pus. Why cannot letters be printed as written, without embellishment of any kind? ' John L.S. Hickey Chapel Hill Hickey's final sentence is precisely why the "sics" were added: to show exactly how the letter was writ ten. It wasn't done to "intimidate" readers from writing critical letters to the paper. Of the nearly 200 letters (many of them critical) the DTH has printed since this staff took over in February, Bryson's letter was the first in which spelling errors were not cor rected. That was done because Bryson is an elected official. In writing to us, he also was writing to his constituents. If his letter was hastily written, some of his consti tuents may find that relevant to his performance as a CGC representative. It is a well-accepted journalistic practice to print letters from public officials as they are . received. , Everyone makes mistakes and the DTH makes more than it should. But the combination of Bryson's campus position and so many errors in the letter made the letter an exception to normal policy. The DTH is not out to intimidate readers from writing letters. To the contrary, the editorial page thrives on your comments, and we encourage you to write. John Drescher Editor the School of Journalism is concerned. To present Jim Hummel as any sort of authority on the selection of journalism professors is to do your readers a grave disservice. If the writer had talked to someone who has actually been involved in the selection process, I daresay a much more balanced picture would have emerg ed. ; The story also omitted an important detail of the search committee it has two students on it, one undergraduate and one graduate. As the undergraduate representative, my major concern was excellent teaching ability. I can say unequivocably that my views were often solicited and always carefully considered by the rest of the committee, who were full-time faculty members. The needs of the school were made clear: "We want a hotshot teacher" was the department's message. It almost goes without saying that this good teacher must also perform good research, since the University is primarily a research institu tion. That is not to say, however, that research is emphasized. In conducting our search, we ended up the semester hiring no one, largely because we felt the available applicants were not good enough in the classroom. Although the J-School is in need of a new professor, the faculty was not ready to hire someone who was lacking either teaching or research skills. This, I believe, represents a dedication to the high quality of education at the University and an un willingness to bend to the pressures of the moment. While there are other constraints in faculty selection, the emphasis, if there is one, is on a balance of teaching and research skills. With this balance in mind, the quality of education is assured. : Lee Hinnant Carrboro Decide for yourself To the editor: . I was not particularly surprised to see Kevin Heisler's letter attacking Polyester "Boycott 'Polyester' " (DTH, Sept. 23). He claims that the film is "obscene because it revels in the mockery 'of grave societal problems," and urges that students boycott the movie and that the DTH refuse to run ads for it. His com plaints are not particularly novel; indeed the film itself seems deliberately to invite such outrage by its refusal to be caught up in the glamour, that so often characterizes Hollywood films aimed at a mass au dience. life is not always glamorous, compos ed of glowing slow-motion shots of beautiful people running into the sunset, accompanied by the rising shimmer of syn thesizers. It can be, of course, but it can also be dirty, disgusting, depressing and downright mediocre. A careful viewing of Polyester suggests, I think, that it is just such middle-class mediocrity that director John Waters has taken as his subject. Water's view of suburban America is a bizarre one, to be sure, but it draws on the dreams and nightmares that pulse just beneath the sur face of the shopping mall and the soap opera. If Waters has chosen not to glorify the stuff of everyday life, not to settle for an easily gained inspirational ending or a cheap resolution to the problems we all face, but rather to demonstrate the fallacy of such shallow solutions and the danger of depending either on an accumulation of material goods or on a rescue by a matinee idol for our salvation, should we condemn him for that? Waters works in a tradition of satire that goes back through Swift to Juvenal, a tradition which has always evoked cries of horror and despair from the self-appointed guardians of the public good. "Obscene! Offensive!," they shriek. "Shocldng! Lewd! Disgusting!" As Oscar Wilde observed, "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital." If you're intrigued by what you've read about this film, go to see it yourself. Don't take either Heisler's attack or my defense as gospel; make up your own mind. Randy Woodland English Department support d win By CHIP WILSON Support of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin from within his own government and from the United States slowly slipped this week as his cabinet rejected calls for an official inquiry into the Palestinian refugee massacre. Demonstrations by both Israelis and Arabs provoked a clamor for a complete accounting of how the massacre occurred and whether Israel should take some re sponsibility for it. . . shoulder responsibility for the massacre, because it is in control of west Beirut. American discontent with Begin' s denial spread to several pro-Israel congressmen including Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal, D-N.Y., and Sen. Henry Jackson, D-Wash. Rosenthal told the Times that U.S. -Israel relations are at an all-time low. "This goes to the credibility of Israel's standing ability to deal with the problem in Lebanon and its standing as a member of the family of nations," Jackson said. THE WEEK IN REVIEW While Palestine Liberation Organiza tion officials claim as many as 1 ,400 refu gees were killed Sunday by Lebanese Christian rightists, the U.S. government confirmed a death toll of only 204. American spokesmen said, however, many more corpses of men, women and children remain buried. Israel pinned the blame for the two-day rampage of refugee camps on Christian Phalangist militiamen loyal to the slain Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel. The Israeli Ambassador to the United States took out two full-page ads to that effect Tuesday in The New York Times and The Washington Post. The Reagan administration, on the other hand, contends Israel should A moderate for Lebanon Amin Gemayel, the brother of the Lebanese president-elect slain last week, will get the job his younger brother was slated to take later this month. Tuesday's balloting by parliament members didn't inspire the same reaction from Moslem factions as Bashir's, however. In August, Moslem leaders boycotted Bashir's election. But support for the elder Gemayel was unanimous; he won 77-0. Both were affiliated with the Maronite Christian Phalangjsts, long at odds with the Palestinians and long in cahoots with the Israelis. But Amin Gemayel represents the more dovish faction of the Phalange Party. His was the softspoken and restrained voice of moderation, while Bashir was con stantly expressing his loathing for the Palestinians. . Most notably, Gemayel is the consum mate politician. He never has departed from the fold of the Phalange Party, which his father founded in the 193te, but his rapport with Moslems and the PLO have led some Lebanese to call him "the human face of the Phalange." The election of a moderate Indicates Lebanon's desire for an immediate reso lution to its long and bloody dilemma over the Palestinians. School prayer Senate liberals thus far have been suc cessful in using one of Sen. Jesse Helms tactics the filibuster in an attempt to head off legislation to put organized prayer back into public schools. The North Carolina Republican and his colleagues fell slightly short of the 60 votes needed to limit debate on an amendment, attached to the federal debt ceiling bill, that would allow school prayer. The debt bill has to pass in order for the federal government to borrow the money it needs to operate beyond Oct. 1. Critics of the school prayer bill, such as Daniel P. Moynihan, D-N.Y., have called the Helms bill an unconstitutional push to undermine the authority of the federal courts. Moynihan said of tile liberal side's filibuster victory: "We have broken the radical right. The constitution is secure once more." 'CIA2S Villi CDOTNE ITS STYLE OF CUSTOM PtfERfoTttE ).V?CfirWXOm. Helms and the "radical right" suffered another loss last week because of a liberal filibuster. The Senate pushed aside consi deration of a mild anti-abortion package he had been supporting. PCB protest continues While Helms was taking his lumps in Washington, protestors in Warren County were launching more verbal assaults on the man who wants to replace him. Gov. Jim Hunt has asserted that PCBs will continue to be dumped in the contro versial landfill in Afton, a small com munity near the Virginia border. Warren residents and their sympathizers contend the state violated their civil rights by plac ing the landfill in that county. State Highway Patrol officers have ar rested 242 people for attempting to block dump trucks from entering and leaving the landfill. The protestors were or ganized by a local citizen action com mittee and by black activists such as the Rev. Leon White of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice and the Rev. Ben Chavis, a former Wilming ton 10 defendant. Their appeal is rernimscent of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s with sit downs in the middle of the highway and non-violent reactions to arrests. But the biting rhetoric expressed by some of the leaders has hardly been passive. 'f i , "Jim Hunt is a racist wolf in sheep's clothing," White told UNC students , Tuesday in a rally against the dump. Such comments have served only to re inforce the notion that Warren County citizens have turned the landfill contro versy into a struggle between black and whites instead of a controversy over the environment. Recruiting Black faculty members last week told the UNC faculty council that the Uni versity should be doing a better job of re muting minority employees. Audreye Johnson, an associate pro fessor of social work and chairman of the Black Faculty-Staff Caucus, contends ap plications' submitted by blacks have, in many cases, been overlooked or buried. "What is af issue is that sometimes blacks are not considered in good faith," Johnson said. She also says blacks are often offered jobs below their skill level or "sometimes their applications don't' get considered for a long time." UNC Chancellor Christopher C. Ford ham told the Faculty Council the Uni versity should work harder in recruiting more black faculty. Chip Wilson, a senior journalism and political science major from Gastonia, is editorial assistant of The Daily Tar Heel.