The Cadre (newspaper)

"The Cadre" is the student-run newspaper of University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The "Cadre" is usually published twice monthly, but internal issues, such as staff leaving for illness, have resulted in occasionally delayed and omitted editions.

History

Controversy

In December 2002, The Cadre published an article entitled "Christfucking Christmas", a satirical article that was written to address the issue of consumerism during the Christmas season that had references to suicide, murder and rape. The headline offended enough people to have support for "The Cadre" withdrawn by the UPEI Student Union. The Editor in Chief was replaced, and from that point on the UPEI Student Union took a more active role in the paper, as they were liable for the content printed as publishers of "The Cadre".

In Fall 2004, "The Cadre"'s Editor in Chief quit over demands from Student Union executive to not allow The Cadre to accept advertisements from other bars in Charlottetown that would conflict with the operation of the Student Union run bar, The Wave. The paper gained attentionFact|date=March 2007 by becoming the first North American publication to print the controversial Muhammad cartoons from the "Jyllands-Posten". [cite news |title=P.E.I. student paper publishes cartoons of Prophet |url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/02/08/cartoons-smu-prof.html |work=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2006-02-08 |accessdate=2007-02-05 |language=English] The administration ordered that copies of the paper be removed from circulation on campus, as "publication of the caricatures represents a reckless invitation to public disorder and humiliation. The University acknowledges the debates about press freedom and responsibility generated by this matter." [cite news |title=Censorship on the Island |url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=0f4a202a-339c-43ec-a95e-b68da67acfb2 |format= |work=National Post |publisher=CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. |date=2006-02-16 |accessdate=2007-02-05 |language=English]

Autonomy

In January 2007, the UPEI Student Union acknowledged that "The Cadre" needed renewal, and established a committee to address this issue. On March 11, 2007, their report was delivered to UPEI Student Union Council for consideration. Some members of the committee recommended merging "The Cadre" with the UPEI Independent Student Media Society (UPEI ISM) so that the paper may become autonomous, and benefit from the advancements in new media that UPEI ISM had made at UPEI.Fact|date=March 2007 The Cadre vocally opposed this move, claiming this was another case of media convergence. Others have claimed that "The Cadre" has suffered from the proliferation of citizen journalism through personal channels and social networking websites such as Facebook, and must increase its relevance by using new mediums to communicate, as UPEI ISM has through services such as [http://radio.upei.ca/ecma ECMA Interactive] .Fact|date=March 2007

The aforementioned committee was restructured, removing direct UPEI ISM representation and adding one editor representative from "The Cadre" as well as a staff member at large, as well as a working print journalist from the local community and two council members. The new committee has been given until December, 2007 to explore all options for renewal of "The Cadre", autonomy being one of them.

The Cadre did not meet with success during the 2007-2008 academic year. Under editor in chief Liam McKenna, only four issues went to print in the fall semester. In 2008, McKenna abandoned his post and was replaced by Lucas McInnis. A journalism graduate, McInnis was able to get one issue to print in April and included an apology to the student body.

Moving on, McInnis plans to employ reporters with a background in the field.

References