The University of Toronto (U of T) has recently come under fire for the way they handled an interview request from student media.
Samantha McCabe, the coordinating editor at the Ubyssey, University of British Columbia’s independent student paper, took to Twitter to criticize the the U of T media relations department’s response to her request.
The email response, posted on her Twitter, said, “Due to the high volume of requests we receive we are unable to assist with requests from student media other than our own.”
In response, McCabe tweeted last week, “Hey, @UofT — just a reminder that all student media is media, and has the capacity to hold you accountable!”
In an interview with the Charlatan, McCabe said she contacted the university while working on a story about what is known as the “red zone”—a period of eight weeks that experts believe is the most dangerous time for campus sexual assault.
She said she wanted to know what universities across the country are doing in terms of prevention and education around this issue.
McCabe said the U of T’s response made her feel “disappointed and disregarded . . . to be categorized based on my label as this quote, un-quote student journalist and not because of previous experience or the nature of the story that I was asking them to comment on.”
“I felt like I was reduced to the name of the publication that I was working for, which I think is a dangerous precedent to set for journalism,” she said. “I do think there’s valuable work being done on all levels of journalism right now, specially at the student level.”
The Canadian Association or Journalists (CAJ) put out a statement in support of the Ubyssey and student journalists.
“It’s unacceptable for our post-secondary institutions to ignore media requests from student journalists, said Evan Balgord, vice-president of the CAJ in the statement. It’s the role of student newspapers to cover their schools and often it’s student media that break stories holding institutions accountable.”
McCabe said while the U of T response has been the first one to deny her request “blatantly” for being a student journalist, she said other post-secondary and public institutions take a very long time to respond to her newsroom’s requests.
“It feels like you’re always at the bottom of the pile or less important or they’ll take a few days to respond to your email which you just know isn’t happening for journalists at larger media organizations,” she said.
“It’s kind of disappointing that due to beauracracy or differences of opinion about the value of a student that they’re dismissed and they’re not allowed to fully have the learning opportunities that they could . . . I think that every journalist should constantly learn and be better at their craft, just like any other craft but a student journalist should be just as considered in that and be supported and valued as much as possible.”
The U of T has been reached for comment but did not respond in time for publication.
