Free speech needs respect

University of California, San Diego Student Run Television aired student Steven York with his pants down. The student-run, closed circuit campus station sparked a controversy when it cablecast an episode showing York engaging in sexual acts with an unidentified woman.\nThe station is no stranger to airing inflammatory content. UCSD established a Closed-Circuit TV Stations Governance committee to monitor SRTV in the fall of 2004 after it received obscenity complaints, according to a Feb. 14 article in The Guardian, UCSD's student newspaper.\nThe now-infamous broadcast sparked a media frenzy on the local and national levels. York and SRTV's Station Manager Chelsea Welch were guests on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" and Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." Welch said she has to be content neutral in giving broadcast time to any student groups who want it.\nYork said he made the piece to advocate free speech, according to a Feb. 24 Guardian article.\n"I've been put into a position to advocate for free speech issues," he said.\nThe implications of the issue here are larger than York's behavior. While York's show was in poor taste, UCSD administration is too close to regulating student media, paid for by student fees. The University has since opened an investigation into whether the broadcast broke any SRTV or campus regulations or communications laws. If the broadcast did violate FCC regulations, then that is a legal matter.\nThe decision to show pornography on the station was not necessarily a wise one, but this struggle underscores the importance of student media being financially independent of the universities. \nIt also highlights the importance of using our precious right to free speech responsibly. Student-run television is a relatively new medium, so of course students are testing the boundaries. However, York showed weak judgement in using pornography simply to make the point that he has free speech rights. \nFree speech is to hold the government accountable and to express one's ideas, not just to prove that one has it. We hope that York and student-run TV at UCSD understand the enormous burden of using free speech for a purpose.\nIt is unlikely that a scandal on the scale of York's and SRTV's will happen at IU student media any time soon. IU Student TV Executive Director Kieran Farr said a segment like York's would never make it past the editing process at his station. At the IDS, every word is edited several times and approved by the management staff before it's on a page. \nIf the media is funded solely by student fees, the media should be responsible to student government, not always the administrators. \nWe hope that if a student media controversy arises here at IU, the University will respect student decision and give students the freest voice possible. It would be prudent for UCSD to let students handle student pornography on the student TV station. However, the students also carry a burden to use their media responsibly and pick their fights wisely.