Felix Gagged
“Felix shall be editorially free to operate and report on events as the Editor sees fit, as long as he or she is not acting against the wider student interest... ” – Union Policy on Felix
This week Felix News has three major stories that we are unable to publish due to prohibitive regulations that govern the Union in general. Rather than fill these pages will second-rate material, we feel it is our duty to inform our readership that we are not able to discuss certain important student issues, despite the official policy (stated above) that is supposed to govern this publication.
Felix is not able to report on matters concerning Election candidates’ past or present during the election period, no matter how factual.
If one of the election candidates came down into the Felix office and set fire to the computers whilst chanting racist hate slogans and kicking a granny, we would not be able to report or publish evidence on it, without being immediately impounded as soon as the candidate complained that we had influenced the election. This is due to interpretation of the ‘Elections’ section of the constitution, viewing Felix as holding a privileged position as the only student newspaper of Imperial College Union.
The argument stems from a part of the Union constitution which states in (Regulation 4 part G43 for the hacks) that: “All media or newsletter reports, or comments, must mention the names of all candidates standing for a post within the body of the report, in the case of elections.” This is the only reference to the news media coverage of candidates in the constitution regulations. It is intrepreted by the Union as not allowing Felix or any other Union media to publish an article during an election that concerns one candidate alone, even if it gave a token mention to the other candidates as an aside.
Felix was given the official Union position on this matter after one of the major stories this week concerns a presidential candidate and their actions over the past six months. Felix cannot publish these events without risking censorship and exposing the editor to disciplinary action. However, Felix believes that these events are both newsworthy, and in the interests of the voting students.
Felix is not able to report on matters concerning, or related in any way, to Union staff, no matter how factual.
Felix, along with the rest of the Union, is governed by a prohibitive “Code of Practice (CoP),” an agreement between the Union and College, that is designed to protect both the Union and College from legal action stemming from the breach of HR law. However this CoP prevents students in any public forum (be that Council, Court or Felix) from discussing the actions, opinions or details of any Union Staff, or even publishing details or comment on a department of the Union itself. Felix can publish any material discussing members of College staff, so long as it does not breach civil or criminal law, but not even mention members of Union staff.
Felix was given the official Union position on this matter after two of our stories this week were deemed to have possibly reflected badly on certain departments of the Union, and hence Union staff members. Felix understands that it is necessary for the Union to protect itself from legal action over HR law, but believes that publication of these news stories is certainly in the interest of the student body, but again we cannot publish without exposing Felix to harm.
Both of these issues illustrate a major conflict between the intended operation of Felix (as stated in the Union Felix Policy), and the rules that govern many areas of Union activity that also extend over Felix, overruling the intended operation of this student newspaper. Felix suggests that either the Union policy governing Felix should be changed to reflect the reality of the situation – a gagged publication that cannot report on issues that matter most to student of this college, or the Constitution should be changed to allow a truly democratic student newspaper – bound only by the public interest and UK defamation law. Until then, Felix informs the students of Imperial College that it cannot publish the whole truth.
The cat is not free.
