Ramirez is a fourth-year student with a double major in American
literature and culture and Chicana/o studies, and minors in
education and political science. Â
By Erika Ramirez
Along with many other Bruins, I read the articles covering the
USAC elections throughout the past two weeks in the Daily Bruin and
began to see a pattern emerge. I have noticed the biased nature of
supposedly “objective” journalism in the paper. I will
point out several instances in which the Daily Bruin presented
one-sided coverage of the student elections, passing on its own
bias off to us ““ the students ““ as respectable
reporting.
While the Daily Bruin committed itself to ensuring that the UCLA
community be aware of Bryant Tan’s use of office
expenditures, it failed to provide the same scrutiny toward his
opponent David Dahle and his track record in office (“Dahle,
Tan go head to head for USAC presidency,” News, April 30), (
“Student Empowerment! candidate’s record is
shaky,” News, April 30).
The Daily Bruin did not probe Dahle’s own
less-than-stellar performance as a general representative this
year. Dahle is supposed to be an avid supporter of representation,
yet as a general representative he failed to represent his
constituency by missing several meetings, rarely being in his
office and skipping numerous council supported programs.
For example, Dahle was absent at all three General Body meetings
as well as at a dinner with administrators from Student Affairs. He
spoke of a tiered funding system he hoped to implement during his
campaign, yet he has little knowledge of the base budget funding
process. He was gone for several meetings during the summer, turned
in a weak proposal and sent a representative who knew nothing about
the proposal to his own hearing. The funding he received for his
base budget reflects the poor quality of his proposal efforts.
Lastly, Dahle claims to advocate BruinGo!, yet he failed to attend
a rally in support of the free transportation program sponsored by
GSA and USAC and did little to support other council members’
active efforts in saving BruinGo!
The Daily Bruin ignored these facts while digging through pages
of accounting ledgers for “dirt” on Tan. This
one-sidedness doesn’t even take into consideration the many
articles written by former Viewpoint columnist Andy Jones, a
supporter of the SURE slate.
In addition, the Daily Bruin failed to cover many news-worthy
events that occurred throughout the elections. During the course of
campaigning, several disrespectful and degrading flyers were
disseminated around the UCLA community, some of which read
“Student Empowerment? Sucks” with pictures of Hitler
and Mother Teresa. Other flyers that were distributed misquoted
several of the Student Empowerment! candidates. It is sad to see
that the opposition had to stoop to the pathetic level of childish
insults to sway voters from supporting Student Empowerment! slate.
Nevertheless, the Daily Bruin did not cover this harmful material
due to its attempt to paint the picture of Student Empowerment! as
a powerhouse. The Daily Bruin failed to show the vulnerability of
Student Empowerment! to these attacks.
On the night of the announcement of election results, supporters
of Student Empowerment!, SURE and independents anticipated the
outcome. During the course of the night, Student Empowerment!
supporters were chanting and being entertained by a cultural
performance on the steps of Kerckhoff Hall. Andy Jones and fellow
SURE supporters decided to place a large SURE signboard facing
Student Empowerment! supporters. The UCPD intervened and asked
Jones to remove the 4-by-8-foot wooden signboard, which was a
potential safety hazard to students gathered on the steps. Jones
refused to move the signboard and shouted to the crowd, “Hate
me everyone, because I hate all of you!”
Is Jones representative of the views held by the UCLA campus,
especially as a former Viewpoint columnist? The Daily Bruin spent
several paragraphs mentioning the call and response chants of
“Student!” followed by “Empowerment!” but
it failed to report that Jones and other SURE supporters responded
with “Excrement!” Why was this omitted from the
article? (“Dahle triumphs by fraction of percent,”
News, May 3) I can assure you that those present Thursday night
felt that these incidents were significant, but several Daily Bruin
reporters overlooked their occurrence.
I must take this opportunity to commend the Student Empowerment!
supporters for not resolving to the use of disrespectful tactics
such as a smear campaign or shouting hateful obscenities at their
opponents. Jones’ actions are indicative of SURE’s
attitude toward people of color and other progressive students.
These actions are especially hypocritical because SURE claims to
support “inclusiveness” and a desire to work and
represent all organizations.
The Daily Bruin claims to serve the UCLA community, but biased
and poor journalism are only a disservice to the student body. I
hope that all students remain critical of the reporting by the
Daily Bruin and hold it accountable to fair and objective
standards.
Correction: “¢bull;In the submission
“Daily Bruin turns biased eye in USAC elections
coverage” (Viewpoint, May 9) the word “misuse” in
the second paragraph should have been
“use.”Correction posted 5/10/02