Raines, TBR to discuss creation of newspaper policy

By: Stacia Doss

Posted: 11/17/09

After a disgruntled student trashed hundreds of copies of The Daily Helmsman last week, University of Memphis President Shirley Raines and other faculty members are working to create a statewide policy to hold people accountable for gathering and throwing away free newspapers.

Richard Ranta, dean of the College of Communications and Fine Arts, said U of M faculty members would work with Raines and the state to prevent future crimes.

"We've contacted the (Tennessee Board of Regents) chancellor about getting other state university presidents to gather, along with University Counsel Sheri Lipman, to see about getting some law passed or regulation through the Board of Regents," Ranta said.

University administration is also investigating whether or not Burton violated the Student Code of Conduct, he added.

Ranta said faculty and administration were "looking to make people accountable for their actions."

"We are trying to put measures in place to prevent this from happening in the future and to punish those who have destroyed public property," he said.

Jennifer Burton, art graduate assistant, told The Daily Helmsman last Thursday that she threw away all the copies of the paper she could find because they contained an article about her brother's arrest for arson and assault.

Ross Burton, also a U of M student, was charged Nov. 11 with setting fire to the rope of a flagpole at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center and then assaulting undercover police officers.

U of M student Wesley Higgins was also charged in the case.

After the newspapers were noticed to be missing, Police Services officials said that the crime could qualify as malicious mischief. But after Bruce Harber, director of campus police, consulted with the Shelby County Attorney General's office, Police Services decided a crime had not been committed because Jennifer Burton said that she had looked at each newspaper before throwing it away.

Even though the paper is free to students, some legal experts have confirmed that trashing newspapers is a crime.

Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate with the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C., said taking and destroying the newspapers is considered theft.

"The fact that (the newspaper) is given away doesn't mean that it doesn't have value," he said. "Owners can do what they want in the distribution of their property, but that gives others no right to steal it."

The total financial value of the Thursday issue, not including the salaries of reporters and editors, was $1,925, which included advertising and printing costs, said Bob Willis, business and advertising manager for The Daily Helmsman.

After Police Services' decision, several U of M officials began seeking methods for punishing such actions.

Joseph Hayden, associate professor of journalism, sent an e-mail to Police Services last week complaining about their failure to take criminal action against Jennifer Burton.

"This was a difference in legal opinion, and we're hoping to resolve it, " he said. "This is more than just a civil law because the act hurts not only an individual, (but also) society."

Similar cases at several schools across the country have resulted in successful criminal prosecutions for newspaper theft.

In 2003, Berkeley, Calif., Mayor Tom Bates was fined for his role in trashing 1,000 copies of the student newspaper of the University of California at Berkeley, which carried an editorial endorsement of his mayoral opponent.

But some U of M faculty said there is more at stake than the violation of criminal or civil laws. Burton's actions violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to several journalism professors.

David Arant, chair of the journalism department, said he has contacted both the Commercial Appeal media law attorney Lucian Pera and the Tennessee Press Association, among other sources, concerning the issue of the student newspaper's being trashed.

"The public thinks that just because it's free, they can throw it away, but this is silencing free speech," he said. "We cannot afford for this to happen again, and I know we can come up with a way to stop students and others from disposing of press runs."