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Student Columnist Fired

By TChris, Section Media
Posted on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 10:46:58 AM EST
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by TChris

A columnist at The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who started a column with the words "I want all Arabs to be stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within 100 yards of an airport," has been fired -- not for expressing her repellent views, but for misleading her sources.

Columnist Jillian Bandes told three campus sources - two Arab students and a professor who teaches a course on Arabic - she was writing an article about Arab-American relations, Daily Tar Heel opinion editor Chris Coletta wrote in an article published Thursday.

Bandes lied to her sources. She was actually writing a column about her desire for racial profiling at airports. Her column gave the false impression that the sources she interviewed endorsed her views.

In the column, Bandes quoted the conservative commentator Ann Coulter saying that "any time she had a need for physical intimacy, she would simply walk through an airport's security checkpoint." Some travelers have complained about overly intrusive physical searches at airports.

"I want Arabs to get sexed up like nothing else," Bandes wrote. "And Arab students at UNC don't seem to think that's such a bad idea."

She then quoted Khaki, Salameh and Isleem speaking in support of airport security measures. The newspaper said they never intended to endorse being "sexed up."

Bandes claims that her column violated no journalistic standards. Honesty isn’t a journalistic standard? Advocating offensive sexual touching of Americans because of their ancestry is consistent with journalistic standards?

Bandes will no doubt go on to a long and lucrative career like her equally obnoxious heroine Coulter, after whom she evidently models herself.

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    Student Columnist Fired | 40 comments (40 topical)
    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    She has a bright future with the establishment media we now have. Maybe a future repug campaign director. Is this what they teach in "journalism school"?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Here's how she starts off her article: I want all Arabs to be stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within 100 yards of an airport. I don’t care if they’re being inconvenienced. I don’t care if it seems as though their rights are being violated.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    I
    want all Arabs to be stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within 100 yards of an airport
    I want all tyrannical student columnists anally probed if they get within 100 yards of a word processor. Seriously, has this girl ever taken a civics class? Sounds like she needs to enroll in "civil liberties 101".

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#5)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    arabs or muslims mr charlie? A Venn diagram of the intersection of the 2 sets might surprise you. IOW, not all arabs are muslims and not all muslims are arabs.
    based on the percentages which indicate greater numbers of them either are affiliated with or sympathetic to terrorism
    Please provide links for the statistical correlation you allege here. There are so many classic logical fallacies in your comment it could be used as a textbook example (or the basis for a hreitage institute 'white' paper;-)

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#6)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Ahhh, The Daily Tar Heel, how I loved the paper when i was an undergraduate there. You know, every editorial board that paper has had in the last twenty years (at least), including the current one, has A)Had a liberal bent; but B) done a great job of making space for conservative columnists, both to foster the exchange of diverse ideas and to increase interest in the paper via heated debate. For my money it is a great college daily, perhaps the greatest in the United States. Charley et al: Note that she was not fired for the incendiary comments; I've seen much, much more extreme extremity in the editoiral pages and collumns. She was fired for misleading sources--this constitutes a breach of journalistic ethics. If word gets out that your writers will screw you then, as a professor or an undergrad or a janitor or whatever, you simply refuse to speak to the paper. Not only, then, does it makes sense to fire her in terms of ethics, but the action is also in keeping with smart market practices--without credibility, you end up a tabloid like the New York Post or The National Inquirer.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Well said sailor, I have arab blood and the arab side of the family is all christian. Glad to know some Americans think I should be cavity searched every time I leave the house. It makes me so proud to be an american.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    arabs or muslims mr charlie?
    See, now you are gonna force him to fall back on a more generic term like "raghead" or "haji" in the future.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    she impolitely expressed a view that would be backed by probably 80% of the voting public were the question up for a vote.
    And 100 percent of them probably couldn't tell one amendment from another. But it won't matter as long as they aren't swarthy looking and praying to the wrong god.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#10)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Charley, Three questions before you end up in my mental "ignore" list. Did she mislead her sources? Did she misrepresent the meaning of her sources' quotations? If yes to either, is that acceptable behavior?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#11)
    by Aaron on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    "Bandes said she didn't believe her column violated any journalistic standards." Hard to believe anyone who's studied journalism seriously would engage in these kind of deceptive tabloid practices. "She then quoted Khaki, Salameh and Isleem speaking in support of airport security measures." Apparently when they had not done so. "she strung together quotes out of context. She took sources' words out of context. She misled those sources when she conducted interviews," While there are occasions when journalists can legitimately mislead people in order to get at the truth, investigative journalism for example, this does not qualify under that definition. Deliberately misrepresenting yourself and your aims in order to deceptively maneuver your subjects into providing you with material that you can then distort in order to create the appearance that they hold views which they do not, is not only a clear violation of journalistic ethics, it's libelous and a violation of the law which exposes the journalist and their employer to civil action in the courts. If any of these people decide to sue, they have a high probability of success. The university was correct in firing Ms. Bandes. She has just destroyed her own credibility before her career ever started. Unfortunately as TChris mentioned she'll probably get a job out of this somewhere, presenting herself as a columnist and foisting some pseudo journalism on a naïve readership.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#12)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    I think that I'd feel safer if Charlie was cavity searched at all borders

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Lucky for me (and my anus) there is a beautiful law to protect me against the tyranny of charley's fictitous "80%".
    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
    I refuse to believe "80%" of us think the Bill of Rights is toilet paper. I refuse to believe "80%" of us are such spineless cowards afraid to face the risks associated with a free society. What is more unreasonable than the anal probing of all brown skinned men?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#14)
    by Aaron on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    This type of behavior on the part of Jillian Bandes is the kind of thing that makes it hard for all journalists and brings the profession into ill repute. This in fact is not journalism at all, it is a subversion of journalism and what all good journalists hold dear, accuracy and truth. I condemn it, her and her ilk in the highest possible terms.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#15)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Charley, I thank you, you are an excellent representative of the GOP mindset. Even though it is patently obvious (to anyone aware of the facts, anyway) that she was fired for misleading sources and misrepresenting their positions; yes, even though this is as clear as could be, you proceed as though she were fired for her opinion. Again, these university papers are essentially training grounds for the big time, and as such it is very important that they emphasize credibility and ethics. Otherwise the might as well be training paparazzi. Aaron: As far as I can tell, it was not the University that fired her, but rather the paper's editorial board, which is comprised entirely of students. Unlike the student publication at Baylor, for example, UNC has a stellar track record of leaving these editorial boards to their own devices. Journalistic freedom modeled.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Some comments from a right-wing troll, should anyone be interested. (1) Kdog has it right: concerns about security do not justify violations of the Bill of Rights. Yes, this approach will make homeland security efforts less effective. Yes, this will cost American lives. So did the American Revolution, fought for those same freedoms. (2) If the reporter did mislead her sources then that would be wrong, sort of like when Michael Moore misled his sources (no one here minded though, since he was on the far left). But as Glanton points out, the paper has a leftist bent. That means there is the distinct possiblity that she was fired because of her opinions - the left has never been very open-minded and it's public venues often use trumped-up 'violations' as an excuse to shut off debate (witness this site as an example). I hope the incident is investigated so that the true reason for the firing may be established. If the paper is telling the truth then the reporter should remain fired; otherwise the editor should be fired.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#17)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    "But as Glanton points out, the paper has a leftist bent. That means there is the distinct possiblity that she was fired because of her opinions" Grad Student, do you even know what the H*&L you're talking about? HAve you ever read this paper? What I said was, yes it has a leftist bent, but that at the same time it has always made a real tangible point of representing the gamut of views on issues of the day. Now, if you can find me a single year in the last twenty, in the existence of the DTH, lacking a diversity of voices, then you might have something. But right now all you have, like Charley, are assumptions and generalizations--make sure you hang on to these, incidentally, so that you're armed the next time you enter a discussion on gay rights or the poor. Blech.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#18)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Glad to hear someone from the right express a commitment to the Bill of Rights and freedom, well said grad on point 1.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    I know it's probably fruitless to respond to a self proclaimed right-wing troll... If by "the left has never been very open-minded" you mean never been very open-minded to close mindedness, then I think you have a point.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#20)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Bandes will no doubt go on to a long and lucrative career
    Is she blond?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#21)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    While I do think there's a bad trend of oppressing non-leftie speech at public universities, this doesn't sound like an example. Unless (wild speculation here, not an accusation) the editors are selectively enforcing the rules, allowing liberal writers to lie, this is just a case of somebody breaking a fair rule and getting caught.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#22)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    charley, most of the 9/11 perpetrators were saudi arabian, as were the perpetrators of the earlier bombing of the towers, we have yet to attack that country. based on your logic, we should have done that, first thing. all other terrorists, in the u.s., have been home-grown, white male, right-wing "christians". hmmmmmm, guess we should be doing full body cavity searches on all of them. i assume this young lady failed to receive her degree, since she clearly learned nothing in her classes. no matter, i'm sure fox will hire her.
    sort of like when Michael Moore misled his sources
    when has michael moore misled his sources? please provide specific examples, with corroborative, documented evidence. as near as i can tell, mr. moore has misled no one. this is the standard right-wing "strawman", and a pretty weak one at that.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    cpinva writes:
    i assume this young lady failed to receive her degree, since she clearly learned nothing in her classes. no matter, i'm sure fox will hire her.
    Well, if Fox doesn't I'm sure CBS always needs a producer. She obviously is fake but acurate.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    roy - exactly. If she broke a rule to which all her colleagues are subject, then no problem. My point is that since the paper is quite left, there is a significant possibility that the rules are not applied fairly. That is characteristic of the left. catny - Labelling your opponent's 'close minded' may or may not be accurate, but if you choose not to listen to their arguments on that basis then you become your own accusation. cpinva - fine. glanton - yes, I do know what the hell I'm talking about. Want the background? Leftism holds that there is no objective morality. The logical consequence of this is that no tactics are immoral in order to advance a leftist agenda...so there is a widespread problem of leftists using objectively unjust practices to quell the other side of the debate. It's inherent to leftism, I can't help you on this one.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#25)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Grad Student beautidfully represents what passes for neocons as factual debate these days. He simply unleashes a series of abstract insults against an abstract idea ("leftism"), and in doing so implies that he has no need whatever to familiarize himself with the publication he's actively demonizing. No, grad, you don't know what you're talking about becuse you've shown you have no familiarity whatever with the DTH and its earned tradition of integrity, provocative writing, and representation of multiple views. This is a university I attended, it is a paper I've been following ever since. So I do know what I'm talking about. Get a clue, grad. Get off the Kool Aid.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#26)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Leftism holds that there is no objective morality. The logical consequence of this is that no tactics are immoral in order to advance a leftist agenda.
    Your premise does not imply your conclusion. I don't remember the name for that, something Latin probably. The logical consequence is that no tactics are objectively immoral. Some tactics may be subjectively immoral to a Leftist. So a Leftist can feel that murdering toddlers is immoral and prefer not to do so in pursuit of his agenda. He just can't lay out an objective proof that murdering toddlers is wrong.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#27)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Leftism holds that there is no objective morality.
    Please define 'leftism' and then provide links for your ... uhhh ... point.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    roy - I think the term you're looking for is "non sequitur". We both agree and disagree. It is true that many leftists hold themselves to a personal standard due to what you call 'subjective morality' and what most people call 'feelings'. However feelings are not a reliable regulator for conduct. They change with time, with obnoxious opponents, with stress, and lots of people don't have them to begin with. So the result is that while there are many good people on the left, there are also many leftists who will use any means to achieve their agenda - this is completely consistent with their leftist views, and it causes major problems when fairness, honesty, and law get thrown out in favor of "progress". My point is that this girl got fired as a result of an article her left-leaning editor disagreed with. It may have been perfectly justified or it may have been a typical act of leftist activism dishonestly portrayed as applying a "policy". An investigation is appropriate to determine which. Of course, there are also dishonorable people on the right (this reporter may be one of them). The difference is that they are acting contrary to their ideology, not according to it.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#30)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    grad-girl are you dumb or just unable to read. Are you familiar with the DTH? Have you ever read it? glanton has:
    No, grad, you don't know what you're talking about because you've shown you have no familiarity whatever with the DTH and its earned tradition of integrity, provocative writing, and representation of multiple views. This is a university I attended, it is a paper I've been following ever since. So I do know what I'm talking about.
    You just ramble on with idle chatter no dialogue, only monologue. Could be anywhere; TL is just a arbitrary pulpit for you to spew your moronic views. Why don't you waste someone else's time and space as you contribute nothing here.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#31)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    So grad, what's your background? I'm just saying you volunteered, so tell us your background.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Actually I volunteered the background of the problem, not my resume. Why are you so interested in my personal background?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#33)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    "Actually I volunteered the background of the problem" Yes, in your snug little ideological universe, I suppose everything fits very nicely. But here in the real world, "grad student," people often find it useful to actually attend to the individual details pertaining to individual situations. I wonder if you write seminar papers in a similar manner. Careful, dude. You're taking on the ethos of that freckly, nasely kid that gets sent to bed so that the adults can talk.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#34)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Gen. JC Christian, Patriot has a few things to add
    Unlike most columnists, you don't dance around your hated of swarthy people. You come right out and write things like.... I couldn't agree more. I've felt that way ever since I saw my first Abu Gharib human pyramid. But it might be difficult to sell it to those who don't value humiliating brown people as much as we do.
    Gen. JC Christian via atrios

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#35)
    by Aaron on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    Lots of hyperbole, speculation, passive aggressive baiting and some overtly aggressive baiting in these comments with almost no discussion of the facts contained in the story. Why don't all you lefties and righties get a room, perhaps your resulting copulations will produce some moderate offspring which both parents can proudly shun and disavow. At least that would be almost interesting. Or maybe you could just grow up and pull your collective pseudo intellectual heads out of your rear ends. Sincerely Annoyed by your waste of my reading time. ,

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    Grad Student, I know I've unsuccessfully asked this before, but (a) how old are you; and (b) what exactly is it that you're studying?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#37)
    by TChris on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    Grad's unsupported assertion that the columnist was fired by a lefty for expressing a politically unpopular opinion begs this question: why didn't her "lefty" editor simply kill the column or edit out the offensive content? The fact that the column wasn't censored supports the explanation that the story provides: after the column ran, and the quoted sources complained that their comments were taken out of context after they were obtained by deception, the editorial board canned a dishonest and unethical employee.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    TChris is exaggerating by claiming that I've asserted the reason for the columnist's firing. In fact I've merely said that there is cause for an investigation to ascertain the reason. From above: "I hope the incident is investigated so that the true reason for the firing may be established. If the paper is telling the truth then the reporter should remain fired; otherwise the editor should be fired." I know neither the editor nor the reporter so I won't jump to conclusions concerning what transpired between them. Apparently TChris believes her firing does not warrant any further examination (I'm sure anyone here can imagine reasons for this, and they don't bode well for TChris's dubious objectivity) and he's either misunderstood or is falsifying my views on the subject. Molly - physics. Why do you ask?

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    Posted by charley: "vastly greater numbers of acts of terrorism are attributable to them". FALSE. 60 US White Supremacist Terrorism Plots in Last Ten Years That's SIX A YEAR. Racially profile that, Charley. The list doesn't include Tim McVey, and it doesn't include Posada Carriles, an admitted airline bomber, who Bush is harboring in Texas TODAY. It also doesn't mention white supremacists like you.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#40)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    Why are you so interested in my personal background?
    I don't desire your personal background (uhhh shudder), I request your professional background, as many others have. You have stated many times that your 'book larnin' dictates your responses. Your handle states you are a graduate student. What university allowed you to graduate? What university is still allowing you to matriculate? I personally suspect it was Anal Roberts, but then I always suspect anal roberts;-)
    physics. Why do you ask?
    That's a lie!

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#41)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:59 PM EST
    "I request your professional background" Get used to disappointment. "You have stated many times that your 'book larnin' dictates your responses. " I've stated no such thing. "That's a lie!" Somehow I knew that would be your response. Like many other realities, this one doesn't fit your left worldview....therefore deny the reality.

    Re: Student Columnist Fired (none / 0) (#42)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:59 PM EST
    Maybe "grad student" testified before the Kansas Board on behalf of the scientific community? "My point," writes the learned scientist, "is that this girl got fired as a result of an article her left-leaning editor disagreed with." Well, it's a good thing someone with no familiarity with how this (or probably any other) newspaper works, has cleared things up for us. Back on Earth, TChris that was well said. If it were an ideological issue the piece wouldn't have made it to press in the first place. Not to mention the scores of other conservative voices the DTH has enlisted over the years.

    Student Columnist Fired | 40 comments (40 topical)