On Monday, Spectator Editor in Chief Sammy Roth announced the intention to demolish and rebuild Pinkberry, so as to build sufficient space after some period of time in excess of 20 or 30 years.
I went to Pinkberry to get a frozen yoghurt the other day. The building’s facade is pristine and yet I still felt the sign marking the entrance to the Columbia Spectator to be a massive transgression upon its integrity as a frozen yoghurt joint. No preservation society will fight to preserve the building for its worth as long as its the headquarters of a terrible campus publication. The wrecking ball can’t hit soon enough, and I’m glad that Editor in Chief Roth has the good sense to plan ahead.
Spec’s finances have been in shambles for as long as any current student cares to remember. It is telling that in the same meeting in which Roth announced his intention to replace the spec headquarters in Pinkberry, he simultaneously voiced doubt about the Spec’s ability to pay the $2 bill for the frozen yoghurt he was eating.
More importantly, as the 21st century moves along, I wonder whether Spec can continue to justify its existence as an independent undergraduate publication alongside Bwog. Meaningless rhetoric and labels aside, I wonder whether in 20 or 30 years Spec will be able to offer its readers a newspaper that is substantially or even noticeably different from anything Bwog are doing. I wonder whether it does right now.
I don’t want to compare mission statements or dwell on the merger between Spec and Bwog that almost took place a year or so ago. We are told that Spec is an independent student run publication in New York and that Bwog is the snarky rival. Yet beside the label and the rhetoric, I don’t see how the substance of a Spec article necessarily differs from a Bwog one.
While different writing style and integrity requirements exist, the articles published that supposedly fulfill those requirements are often the same ones—with the obvious exception being found in the fact that spec is still not daily. Relevancy and requirements of familiarity with the topic matter about which they are writing are, by design, flexible and lenient enough to accommodate a wide variety in just how much individual articles suck. While Spec’s publishing does not directly correspond with Bwog’s—that is to say there isn’t a Bwog equivalent for every Spec article and vice versa—the differences seem to me more administrative and arbitrary than substantive.
I understand that there are minute differences between the Bwog and the Spec mission, and that running a blog that tells people where to get free food is slightly different from a newspaper that isn’t daily. Yet, it is entirely possible that two students, one working at Bwog, another working at Spec, can graduate with similar interests in journalism, having covered many of the same stories.
Having never read any of Spec’s Arts and Entertainment, Sports, or the Eye—and to be honest, having barely read anything on Bwog except the comment sections—I can’t speak to whether tangible differences exist between the two. However, I don’t think there are necessary and essential differences between the host of administrative and journalistic services available on either of these publications. Perhaps differences exist now, but there is no reason they have to. What differences there may be do not define Spec or Bwog—they are incidental.
If Spec split its staff in half, the first half only working on certain days of the week, the second half working on the other days of the week, there might be some differences in the quality of one half compared to the other half. However, that is not to say that they would now actually be capable of producing a daily newspaper nor one that doesn’t suck. Bwog’s capabilities in providing free food might be in much better shape than Spec’s, but that difference hardly merits a separate publication.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how the social life could be so different on in one publication versus the other. Living above Pinkberry could be seen as significant, but given that specsters have the opportunity to live off-campus or in Columbia residence halls, it is hardly an unshakeable pillar of the spec experience. The fact is that both Bwog and Spec share sources, have terrible writing, go to the same networking events, and are both in the favor of corrupt administrators.
While a Spec-Bwog merger might seem logical, it is more likely to be caused by economic reasons than one of journalistic philosophy. Spec is in a rather dire situation—readers are dropping, corrupt administrators are being deposed, and opinion op-eds are being lambasted by the entire student body. Bwog, despite the shitty new site layout, will continue to view straggling spec readers as its biggest impediment toward further expansion.
Especially if they become more acute, Spec’s dire finances and Bwog’s demand for readers at any cost would make a merger mutually beneficial. If and when a merger occurs, I don’t know whether we—that is, the readers—will lose much aside from the journalistic overlap that currently exists.
And where does that overlap come from? It comes as a result of the corruption of the two publications, because at one point in time, Bwog didn’t see it fit to continue fighting the spec.
So, why isn’t a merger being seriously considered?
The author is a Columbia College junior majoring in justice. He is a former SpecSucks editorial page editor.
To respond to this column, or to submit an op-ed, contact thecloakedmask@gmail.com.
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