This email was sent out Sunday morning [April 1, 2012] to members of The Muse and the Canadian University Press.
My fellow Musers,
It was with great anger and sadness that I received a phone call from Jessie last night [Saturday, March 31] informing me I would not be given a position with our newspaper next year. While my qualms about the ridiculous nature of our hiring policy have been publicly known all year, I would have never guessed that such a blatant example of their failings would be presented this year. I was unfortunate enough to be interviewed by our current Editor-in-Chief and Business Manager, who seem to be unable to put the events of NASH – which I did nothing wrong at, and represented us proudly at – behind them. For these reasons, I was passed over for not only the Editor-in-Chief job, but for ANY job at the paper next year.
You have all worked with me this year, and you know the passion I have for journalism. You also all know that I am willing to help at any time, and that I am friendly in the news room and outside of it. My commitment to The Muse is unwavering, and I made that clear in both the EIC interview, and the interview for other positions. This hiring process has not selected the best individuals for the job, but the people who got along best with the EIC and Business Manager, and answered their beck and call. This became painfully obvious to me over the past week with this round of hiring.
The reason I was given for not being hired for the EIC job was that JMB took more of a leadership role with the referendum. The referendum had nothing to do with journalism, and was a PR event best left to our Business Manager, but I still helped a little with it. Journalism is not about getting students to vote for us. Journalism is about bringing the information to students, and writing stories geared towards. Journalism is about digging for information students need to know, but are not being given by the institutions that should be transparent. The battle of Paul with both MUNSU and MUN PR are evidence of that. Unfortunately, Paul also had to battle with the “leadership” of the paper on occasion, which is counter-productive. Our pro-MUNSU feature earlier in the year, and having Michael Walsh as part of “The Muse” in his column reek of too close of a relationship with student government. We got far too buddy-buddy with them during our referendum as well, which is something that shocked me.
This paper doesn’t need cheerleaders, it needs grunt who are willing to knock on doors and put their feet to the pavement for stories. I do both of those things, and I love doing them. This email isn’t a missile aimed at the hiring committee. It is however, a statement of how botched the hiring was, and how we did not get the best employees for the job due to politics.
Explain how someone with a year inside a professional newsroom, a year as an assistant editor, two years as Editor-In-Chief, who also freelances for Canadian Press did not get ANY job within our newsroom. Searching for answers? He is my brother.
Also think about how someone who has worked with magazines, newspapers, news wires, online news sources, television, blogs, and every form of publishable media across Canada for three+ years did not get a job – not even his incumbent job as Sports Editor, which was given to his understudy of a few months – in our newsroom. That person was me. My experience did not matter, because the decision was made before I put on my tie and dress clothes, and trudged my way into MUN campus.
If there is one thing journalists should never do, it is stand by quietly and merely be observers. We write about injustice, we seek out injustice. In this case, injustice is in our backyard. That being said, I have fought injustice wherever I could in my life and this is no different. I wanted to make my fight public, because I know some of you will support me, although others may not feel comfortable doing so for political reasons. I am not chastising anyone for choosing a side, and I do not want anyone replying to this thread. I would hope that those supporting me will contact me personally, and I will keep your support private.
I also wanted to make this public, because this fight will probably be a long one. I will be reviewing the constitution (which I am here asking for a digital copy of), discussing the matter with the Board of Directors, and also seeking answers at MUN HR.
I want The Muse to be the best that it can be, and this hiring process has botched that. I will be doing anything in my power to make sure The Muse can improve its reputation next year, and I know most of you feel the same.
Sincerely,
Andy Veilleux
Sports Editor of The Muse
Andy Veilleux 