 | |
 Oregon Daily Emerald, February 18, 2011 | |
| Type | Student newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Emerald Media Group |
| Publisher | Eric Henry |
| Editor-in-chief | Tristin Hoffman |
| Founded | 1899 |
| Headquarters | Eugene, Oregon |
| Circulation | 2,500 (as of 2023)[1] |
| OCLC number | 704987467 |
| Website | dailyemerald |
TheDaily Emerald is the independent, student-run weekly newspaper produced at theUniversity of Oregon inEugene, Oregon, United States.[2] Its predecessor, theOregon Daily Emerald newspaper, founded in 1899, trained many prominent writers and journalists and made important contributions to journalism case law. Currently, theDaily Emerald publishes a weekly newspaper on Mondays.[3]
TheDaily Emerald and associated publications, including the quarterly magazineEthos, are published by the Emerald Media Group.[4][5] TheEmerald operates quasi-independently of the university with offices in Suite 302 and 305 of theErb Memorial Union.[6]
TheEmerald traces its roots to theUniversity of Oregon Monthly, a literary magazine launched in 1897. This begat a newspaper, theOregon Weekly in 1899, which moved to semi-weekly publication status as theOregon Emerald in 1909.[7] The name "Emerald" was selected as a tip of the cap to poetJoaquin Miller, who referred to Oregon as "the Emerald state" in several of his works.[7] Since green was one of the University's school colors, the connection was made and the name adopted.[7]
TheOregon Emerald was initially sold by subscription, with a full year priced at $1.00 and individual copies sold for 5 cents each.[8]
On May 24, 1966, theEmerald ran a story, "Students Condone Marijuana Use," by author Annette Buchanan, which included seven unnamed sources discussing their drug use. The interviews were granted under the condition that the sources' names would not be revealed. After reading Buchanan's story, local law enforcement officials convened a grand jury investigation into the illegal use of drugs.
On June 1, 1966, theLane County District Attorney subpoenas Buchanan, requesting names of sources. Buchanan refused and was fined $300 for contempt of court. The case went through the court system until theOregon Supreme Court dismissed Buchanan's claim that theOregon Constitution protected her.[9] In 1968 theU.S. Supreme Court refused to grantcertiorari.
Subsequently, theOregon Legislative Assembly passed a journalisticshield law (ORS 44.510 through 44.540).[10][11][12] TheOregon Shield Law provides extensive protection for all members of the news and information media. The statute provides absolute protection from compelled disclosure of both sources and all information obtained by journalists in the course of their work. It is not clear whether the journalist must have promised confidentiality for the source of information to be covered by the law. The only exceptions to the Oregon statute exist where: (1) there is probable cause to believe that the journalist has or is about to commit a crime or (2) where the defendant in a defamation suit has asserted a defense based on the content or source of the information.
On Oct. 1, 2007, theEmerald's Monday print edition had its second page swapped withThe Daily Barometer — the student newspaper atOregon State University. Somehow,The Daily Barometer's second page had ended up in both papers. Kathy Carbone, the paper's business manager at the time, said the printer claimed the swap was accidental, but she believes it was on purpose and said the paper's staff considered it an act of censorship.[13]
The Daily Emerald's second page featured in an opinion piece written by theEmerald's editorial board with the headline “Fire this…FUCK CENSORSHIP.”[14] The last half of the title was written in big, bold letters across the page. The article was in response toColorado State University authorities discussing whether to fireRocky Mountain Collegian editor-in-chief David McSwane over a published four worded article in the paper that read “Tase this… FUCK BUSH”.[15] The article was in response to theUniversity of Florida Taser incident.
The Daily Emerald's article ended up being published in the paper the following day on Oct. 2, 2007.[14] The paper received some backlash for the article from members of the local community. On Oct.17, 2007, theDaily Emerald published a letter to the editor written byEugene, Oregon resident Lisa Priaulx. In her letter, titled "Profane headline makes Emerald look immature and unprofessional ", she writes in opposition of the headline.[16]
AtThe Daily Emerald's end-of-year celebration, the paper's staff presented editor-in-chief Laura Powers with a framed copy of the “Fire this…FUCK CENSORSHIP” page.[13]
On March 3, 2009, following a management dispute between student staffers and the paper's board of directors, newsroom members at theOregon Daily Emerald decided to strike, citing board actions as threatening to the independence of theEmerald. They issued four demands to the board at its scheduled executive session on March 3, and printed an editorial in the paper the following day that also contained the requests. The demands were as follows:[17]
On March 4, 2009, Steven Smith announced his intention to "withdraw from the fray" following notification of the student strike.[18] The Board of Directors later stated their intention to conduct a nationwide search.[19] TheOregon Daily Emerald published a newspaper on the morning of March 5, 2009, without the contributions of the newsroom staff. A flurry of media coverage on the strike ensued throughout the day. Following statements of support for the strikers by the Associated Students of the University of Oregon,[20] community members[21] and other student publications around the United States,[22] the board of directors and the newsroom staff agreed to engage in a mediation process the following week to fully resolve the situation. The newsroom staff agreed to end the strike and resume publishing the newspaper on March 9, 2009.[23]
In fall 2012, the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Company, Inc. transitioned to a new entity, the Emerald Media Group.[24] Today, theDaily Emerald publishes a weekly print newspaper as well as online, as well as publishing multimedia, such as video andpodcasts through their website.[25]