How did the student paper become so biased?

Before he was the target of protestors’ misplaced angst — and long before anyone dreamed of sticking a joint in his mouth for a “Thug Life” YouTube clip — I was a Ben Shapiro fan. I discovered Shapiro four years ago when he took on Piers Morgan to debate gun control and, without any doubt, wiped the floor with Piers in his own studio.

As a Jewish Conservative, which is nearly as oxymoronic as thick-skinned leftist is now, I was thrilled to find a virtually unknown commentator with the bravado (and chutzpah) to slap a copy of the Constitution down on Piers Morgan’s desk and suggest, with a comfortably smug grin, he take some time to read it over…

Flash forward four years and there I was, standing in line to listen to a live rendition of the Shapiro Show at my university. I’d only been in the 500-plus person line for five minutes before the “protestors” showed up: two older women with “Stop Rape Culture” signs.

Another five minutes passed before any of the new protestors, now pouring in by the ones and twos, got a good laugh out of me with a sign: the subtly anti-Semitic and ever-present “Justice for Palestine” sign at any event featuring a Jewish speaker. There were roughly 20 protestors at the height of this intimidating demonstration.

The funniest sign though, or so I thought, written crudely in black sharpie on a cardboard-box flap read: “The Alligator is #FakeNews”. And I wasn’t the only one; the sign, and its holder’s enthusiasm for his cause, captured everyone’s curiosity and laughs.

Funny enough, it wouldn’t take a fortune teller to determine he was right — just a free copy of the next day’s Independent Florida Alligator, which headlined Shapiro’s visit:

“Before he spoke, about 750 protestors and supporters gathered”. — Independent Florida Alligator headline 4/4/17

Image of the deceitful headline in The Independent Florida Alligator

Now for any rational and thinking individual, only two explanations exist for such a blatant untruth: the journalist who drafted that heading doesn’t understand grammar-school grammar, or the editorial staff intended to deliberately mislead its readers.

The Alligator, which reserves “We Inform. You Decide” as its slogan, has drifted far from its roots focused on independent and objective reporting. In this instance, it seems they went with “We Decide, Then Inform”.

Just how far have they deviated from their proud roots? History can answer that question with ease.

The Independent Florida Alligator formerly existed sans the “Independent” because the publication was an official affiliate of the University. That association ended in the late 1960s when UF administrators attempted to and, in some cases, successfully censored journalists’ efforts to challenge anti-free speech behavior by the university’s administration.

The most telling is the case of Marshall Jones, a UF professor fired in the late ‘60s for aiding and abetting communism on campus. The Alligator staunchly opposed then UF President Stephen C O’Connell’s decision through a series of blisteringly critical op-eds until censored by administrators. One student’s column, comparing the communist witch hunt against Professor Jones to the McCarthyism of the decade prior, was fully censored by the university. A blank space and the word “CENSORED” ran in lieu.

The purpose of these anecdotes is to shed light on The Alligator’s inception. It wasn’t created to peddle the views of the masses, or its editorial staff, but to tackle the issues no one else would with tireless veracity and objectivity. One look at the article about Shapiro shows how far off course they’ve driven.

I’ve found plenty to disagree with Shapiro on after four years, as I have with every political commentator I’ve ever come across. That doesn’t make him evil, or a sexist or a racist or another ist or phobe. But one look at The Alligator’s article on him, which enumerates his supposed anti-women, anti-trans, anti-abortion talking points from the night.

The article curiously makes no mention of the main focal points of Shapiro’s speech: individualism, free-speech protection, and ironically, explicit bias on college campuses. It’s almost as if they have motives other than informing… Kudos to The Alligator for bringing further scrutiny to Shapiro’s — and the nation’s — biggest concern with colleges, at least.

To be fair, The Alligator corrected their pathetically misleading headline inherently equating the number of protestors and supporters in their online version of the article. Too little, too late for the thousands who read the paper subscription daily. No apology was issued.

Just yesterday, I saw the first Conservative piece published by The Alligator all year. Written by the president of UF’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter, the piece criticized UF for not “support[ing] conservative students”. While that accusation is a bit broad for my liking, I see no issue with declaring The Alligator, once the proud patron of controversy, an enemy of free-speech.

The same paper which once saw a journalist arrested for protesting censorship on campus ran an op-ed encouraging the university to “be more conscious of who it invites to campus” since Shapiro’s rhetoric can, apparently, “make people feel unsafe”. What more evidence needs to be provided to prove The Alligator no longer sides with unimpeded free-speech?

I’ll be working as a reporter for my hometown newspaper this summer, where I’ll focus on investigating what I believe to be overly-aggressive police tactics. As a Birkenstock-wearing, philosophy-enthused pseudo-conservative, I defy a lot of stereotypes. I say this to note I am dedicated to objectivity and truth, not an agenda.

The editors of the tumultuous transition period from university affiliate to independent publication would be ashamed with the Alligator’s overt bias and forfeiture of objectivity. Those editors stood on the right side of history. Will you join them, current editors?

Ethan Katz is a writer and columnist for The Daily Nerv