The Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, presented annually by the School of Communications, has been given to some of the most respectable names in journalism–Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert and Bob Schieffer, to name a few.
Quinnipiac University’s website reads: “The School of Communications presents the Fred Friendly Award each year to honor those who have shown courage and forthrightness in preserving the rights set forth in the First Amendment.”
Brokaw, Russert and Schieffer have each been absolutely qualified candidates in the past. But for 2010, The Chronicle can think of no person or organization more deserving of such an award than the Quad News, the student body’s independent news outlet.
The students of the Quad News passionately embody the description of the Fred Friendly Award on Quinnipiac’s website, displaying the rights of the First Amendment and the tenets of good journalism each and every day.
But these students have not been rewarded for their work. Much to the contrary, they have been denied recognition by the University. Most recently, Quinnipiac refused to offer the Quad News a vending table in the Student Center.
The students of the Quad News have shown unprecedented ambition in creating and maintaining an independent news outlet. To deny campus recognition to such courageous and forthright students of journalism is an insult to Fred Friendly, and each and every journalist who has received the award with his namesake.
“It is an honor, a sacred trust and a privilege to present this award each year and keep alive the legacy of Fred Friendly,” President John Lahey said in 2005.
By denying students who possess the very qualities Fred Friendly held most dear, Quinnipiac University is not keeping alive the legacy of Fred Friendly.
It is killing it.
Andy McDonough • May 5, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Thanks for a great article! I’m proud of my three years as a Chronicle Staff writer, and my year as a Quad News Section Editor.
QUmom100 • May 5, 2010 at 4:44 am
As a QU parent, it’s great to see students from both the Chronicle and Quad News having a respect for each other as journalists and for the First Amendment. Kudos to the Chronicle for recognizing how challenging it has been for the Quad News students and stating that Quad News is deserving of The Fred Friendly First Amendment Award. This is true “journalism” at its best!
PhiSigDad • May 2, 2010 at 1:47 pm
The oppressive treatment by the administration towards Quad News student writers has been disgraceful. But Chronicle editors will remember it is not the first time the University has chosen not to champion the first amendment. Thanks for sticking up for what is right with a great editorial! All journalists have to work together on these issues. Web vs. TV or newsprint is a meaningless battle. The difference is only in the delivery system. Journalists still need to find, gather, report, write and file news reports. We’ll let the business and engineering students figure out how to get it to the people. But for now it’s the web for all of us. Wake up Quinnipiac! Did you not see all those amazing stories, photos, and video transmitted through the great firewall of Iran during the uprising, when the networks could barely move from their hotels? You can’t stop it and now is the time to honor the great effort and the high ethical standards your students displayed running the Quad News by themselves all year under difficult circumstances. Fred Friendly would be proud of them. Go Quad News! And go Chronicle online!
Kudos for sticking with your brother and sister journalists and for producing a pretty nifty site on your own this year!
Marco Esquandolas • Apr 22, 2010 at 8:37 am
Fantastic article Chronicle.
quad news • Apr 21, 2010 at 10:05 pm
People really are misinformed about the Chronicle/ Quad News rivalry. It is just friendly rivalry that in my opinion makes both organizations try harder.
Ricky Williams' Bong • Apr 22, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I never knew, i assumed they’d be at each other throats…credit this article, the “Dear administration wake up!” article published from quad news, and Meghan Parmentier for informing me otherwise.
Ricky Williams' Bong • Apr 21, 2010 at 2:24 pm
glad to see there isnt a hatred between these two organizations…. animosity would seem imminent, but its good to see the chronicle standing on the ‘right’ side, along with the SPJ, against the university and their censorship tactics.
right on.