Board Blog: What’s in a name?

This is the week that Americans celebrate the feast shared by the Pilgrims and the Indians. Or Native Americans. Or … Redskins?

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Greg Weston, CBI President

Ah, yes, the “R” word. This football season has brought with it increased attention to the name of Washington’s National Football League team, with protests, defenses, scrutiny of media members who use the name, and even the potential for FCC action who say “Redskins.”

Where does college media fit into all that? Is it our responsibility to take a stand on such a divisive issue? To be honest, as General Manager of a college radio station in Pennsylvania whose NFL coverage is limited to occasional Steelers-centric sports talk, I hadn’t really given the matter much thought.

That changed in early September, when I received an emailed letter from the Change the Mascot campaign asking WPTS-FM to “join other media organizations in refusing to broadcast the Washington team’s name on the public airwaves.” It was signed by dozens of disparate organizations, including the Oneida Indian Nation, the National Organization of Women, the NAACP, and the American Federation of Teachers.

Ignoring the issue was no longer as easy, so I forwarded the letter to some of our student leaders – who would ultimately make the decision – and moderated multiple discussions about it between our Station Manager, Program Director, and Sports Director. In the end, they decided to ban “Redskins” from WPTS, in large part because they couldn’t come up with any reasons to keep using it that outweighed its potential offensiveness.

The reaction has been muted, both inside and outside of the station. One student staff member, who identifies as both a Libertarian and a Redskins fan, was outraged. But the directors held firm and he eventually complied with the ban. In fact, he made it into good radio by inventing a new nickname for them each week. (My personal favorite was the “Washington Reagans.”) We recently polled our staff and found over 98% support for banning that word from WPTS and we’ve had no listener complaints. So, although restricting speech makes me queasy, I must admit that the decision has worked out very well for us.

I’d be interested in hearing how (or if) other college media outlets have handled this issue. Please feel free to put your stories in the comments section on this blog’s Facebook post at facebook.com/AskCBI.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]