Some Bruins United candidates in the upcoming undergraduate
student government election have complained that a top member of
“Bruin News 29″ wore a T-shirt from the Students First!
slate in the campus TV station’s office, raising questions
regarding the impartiality of the program and its endorsements.
“Bruin News 29″ Executive Director Lauren Macheski
confirmed that she identifies with Students First! and wore the
slate’s campaign shirt in the office.
Macheski, who oversees the station’s operational and
content decisions, also said she works in the office of External
Vice President Jeannie Biniek, who is managing the campaign for the
Students First! slate. She also rooms with the Students First!
candidate for Academic Affairs commissioner, Brenda Robles, and the
current Undergraduate Students Association Council President Jenny
Wood.
In an e-mail to the Communications Board, current Facilities
Commissioner Joe Vardner said the circumstances made some Bruins
United candidates who were interviewed by “Bruin News
29″ uncomfortable and “draws into question the
impartiality of the station.”
But Macheski said she was only minimally involved with the
endorsements and did not wear her campaign shirt during endorsement
interviews.
She added that she believes her affiliation will not affect the
impartiality of “Bruin News 29,” especially since the
“Bruin News 29″ endorsements are decided by a majority
staff vote.
“We are a completely impartial news source,” she
said. “We tried to conduct (the endorsement interviews) in
the most objective fashion.”
Several other USAC candidates, including Shaun Doria, Bruins
United candidate for Financial Supports commissioner; Tina Park,
the Students First! candidate for external vice president; and Kyle
Hyman, the Campus Events commissioner candidate from Slate Refund
said their interviews were impartial.
While Vardner said he does not intend to file an official
grievance with the Communications Board against “Bruins News
29,” he did ask in his e-mail that no “Bruin News
29″ endorsements be aired until the Communications Board can
review the situation. The station’s candidate endorsements
are scheduled to air today.
This is the first year “Bruin News 29,” the campus
television station’s news program, has endorsed candidates.
“Bruin News 29″ operates under ASUCLA Student Media, an
umbrella organization that also houses the Daily Bruin.
P.C. Zai, a current general representative and the Bruins United
candidate for Facilities commissioner, said she saw someone in the
“Bruin News 29″ office wearing a Students First! shirt,
which made her uncomfortable.
“It would have bugged me if she had been wearing a Bruins
United shirt. I just felt really uncomfortable, and I thought it
was really unprofessional.”
Zai said she felt her endorsement interview itself, though, was
fair.
Macheski said she thinks she was the only “Bruin News
29″ member who wore a campaign shirt in the office and said
the station has been completely fair in its coverage. “Bruin
News 29″ has run stories critiquing candidates from both
Students First! and Bruins United, according to Macheski and
Executive News Director Nisreen Habbal.
Habbal also said she was not aware of any conflict of interest
policy that forbids “Bruin News 29″ staff members to
wear campaign T-shirts or other materials that would identify them
as supporting a specific candidate or slate.