The Falcon   |   Volume 83, Issue 15

Published 2/22/12   |   Log In

Campus readers get sample of Punch

Alternative publication tests traditional news

By LIA SLOTH, News Writer

Published: October 23, 2002

On Monday morning, 2,000 copies of an alternative newspaper hit the SPU halls, claiming to "pack a punch" that would open discussion and "help our readers think critically about our society, lives and beliefs."

The monthly paper, called "Punch," contains all the usual sections of a newspaper, though a sports section is replaced with a "spoof news" page on the back.

Punch's editor-at-large and 2001 SPU graduate, Greg Piper, commented on the substitution, saying, "news should be fun to read, not a chore."

With exceptions, student and faculty consensus granted acceptance to this new entity.

"It's portraying a lot of honesty everyone feels," sophomore Sarah Hall said. "There's that sarcasm that half the student body actually has, so I just enjoyed that."

Senior Ryan Nash agreed.

"I think it's a good idea to fulfill this obvious gap of student expression in the student life," he said, but added the quality could be better.

Piper says the purpose of the production is to "report relevant information that students, faculty and staff can make relevant decisions on. It is about getting beneath the surface and keeping people informed and entertained."

"I worked at The Falcon for two years, and it was a very eye-opening experience," Piper said. "I came to the conclusion that The Falcon has trouble being an unbiased source as long as it receives money and has watchers overseeing it all the time."

Director of Student Programs Scott Strawn countered this by saying that he'd be hard pressed to show an example of an instance in which the ASSP, administration or any faculty have influenced the content of The Falcon.

Piper's desire for an independent publication began last year, and current editor-in-chief Steve Barnett soon caught the vision.

"We wanted to have an infinite voice on campus that didn't have any strings attached," Barnett said.

Strawn said that independence can endanger accountability.

Strawn added his own thoughts about the role of an independent newspaper in a college community.

"I would make the case that while the Punch might be able to argue that it's truly independent, they also have zero accountability ... that isn't a good thing either because when we live in a community, we need to be accountable to each other," he said.

The responsibility of such independence has already become clear to the editors, who faced a lawsuit before the first issue hit the press.

"It was in regards to a story that was to appear in the first issue. Word got out that it might implicate someone on campus that did not want to be implicated, so we decided not to go on with it," Piper said, but shrugged it off. "You have to pick and choose your battles. This was a battle we thought would be better negotiated than hard fought."

Speculation continues about Punch's potential success.

Writer-in-Residence Gregory Wolfe commented, "An independent newspaper on campus can be a good thing, but as the editors of Punch should know, independence isn't something easily achieved. What made the real British satirical journal Punch (the journal imitated by SPU's Punch) so funny was that it was able to make fun of all parts of the spectrum, including itself.

"One issue isn't much to go on, but at the moment, SPU's Punch seems to have large and rather clumsy political and theological axes to grind."

Despite the controversy, Punch editors don't foresee much of a problem with the publication.

"Where we stand, they can't censor our content," Barnett said. "As far as we see it now, we are able to distribute one way or another, whether the university likes it or not. But we've not done anything to ruffle a bunch of feathers yet, so we're not worried."

Piper said Punch is making every attempt to be on good relations with the university, but "we don't want to shy away from pursuing relevant and interesting stories."

Professor Susan Gallagher supported the venue as a means of student expression but admitted it would have to walk a fine line, as any publication does.

"It's always a struggle in student publications to deal with the question of censorship and content," she said. "It will be an issue for them as much as it is an issue for any other publication."

Punch is currently receiving private financial support from foundations supporting campus media that are headed in the moderate to conservative direction, according to Piper. He hopes the production will kick off and find a permanent position on campus.

"I think that Punch definitely has the potential to be a challenger on campus," senior Lynn VanAntwerp said. "I feel that people are definitely free to write whatever they want to. I would just trust their good character to keep that appropriate and use the newspaper as an opportunity to express their opinions and not just shock people for the purpose of shocking people."

Wolfe says SPU will just have to wait and see if Punch can pull it off.

"Time will tell whether Punch lives up to the independent label, or merely becomes a place to read thudding sophomoric rants sprinkled with strained humor," he said.

*For The Falcon's response to Punch, refer to the staff op-ed.

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