The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 27, 2004, Page 4, Image 4
Professor
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
journalism school,” Konkle said.
Advertising professor Van
Kornegay said Witkoski’s
Introduction to Public Relations
course is being taken care of.
“We’ve got a group of people
who immediately stepped up and
said we’ll be happy to carry the
ball for him to the finish line,” he
said. “So there are about four dif
ferent faculty who will take turns
to finish it out.” Media law profes
sor Erik Collins will take over for
Witkoski’s graduate class.
“He was one of those
personal professors who
got to know his students
really well.”
BRUCE KONKLE
PR PROFESSOR
A Beaufort native, Witkoski
earned his bachelor’s and master’s
in English and his doctorate in lin
guistics at USC. He worked on the
staff of the S.C. House of
Representatives and served as di
rector of research for the Medical,
Military, Public and Municipal
Affairs Committee. :
Witkoski is survived by his wife,
Maggie, and four children. Funeral
services will be held at 1 p.m.
Saturday at St. Joseph’s Roman
Catholic Church in Columbia.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
BY JONATHAN D. SALANT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - “Bubba the Love
Sponge” is gone, and radio shock
Howard Stern is on hiatus from
somd stations. TV networks are
time-delaying certain shows to
make sure inappropriate material
doesn’t make it onto the airwaves.
Broadcast executives cited
these and other examples
Thursday as evidence they are
taking heed of the government’s
call to clean up the airwaves/
“We at Fox have heard your
concerns loud and clear,”, said Gail
Berman, the network’s president
of entertainment. “We sincerely
regret that a few incidents of inap
propriate programming have over
shadowed the good shows we
proudly air on Fox each week. ”
It was the second time in two
weeks that the House Energy and
Commerce telecommunications
subcommittee queried broad
casters about indecency. The first
hearing came on the heels of the
notorious Super Bowl halftime
show that ended with singer
Justin Timberlake exposing
Janet Jackson’s right breast to 90
million viewers
“Networks are being proactive
in the efforts to clean up the air
waves,” said subcommittee
chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.,
who has sponsored legislation to
increase the maximum fine for
indecency from $27,500 to
$275,000.
Several broadcasters endorsed
the higher fines. John Hogan,
president Clear Channel Radio,
said the move would “serve as a
‘shot across the bow’ of the in
dustry, putting us all on notice
that Congress and the FCC
(Federal Communications
Commission) are serious about
cleaning up the airwaves.”
Federal law bars radio sta
tions and over-the-air television
channels from airing material
that refers to sexual and excreto
ry functions between 6 a.m. and
10 p.m., when children may be
tuning in. The rules do not apply
to cable and satellite channels
and satellite radio.
FCC Chairman Michael
Powell and other members of the
FCC have criticized radio and TV
network executives for not doing
more to police the airwaves.
They have warned executives
they will face greater scrutiny
and more fines if they fail to act.
The most dramatic response
came from the nation’s largest ra
dio chain, 1,200-station Clear
Channel Communications. This
week it fired the disc jockey
known as “Bubba the Love
Sponge,” took the Stem show off
the six stations it owns and out
lined new standards that include
immediately suspending any on
air talent accused of airing inde
cent material by the FCC.
Hogan said he was “ashamed”
of the “Bubba” show. The pro
gram, which aired in Florida, re
cently brought a proposed
$755,000 FCC fine for sexually ex
plicit content and other alleged
indecency violations.
Meantime, officials of ABC,
NBC and Fox told lawmakers
they are beginning campaigns
touting the V-chip in television
sets that allows parents to block
certain programs. The network
executives also said they would
also call more attention to TV pro
gram ratings, such as using larger
lettering or rerunning the ratings
after every commercial break.
ABC President Alex Wallau
said his network would air the
Academy Awards on a time de
lay for the first time in the event’s
76-year history.
The three network executives
also told lawmakers their affili
ates are free to reject any pro
grams they feel are inappropri
ate. For example, Wurtzel said
the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake
City does not air “Saturday Night
Live.” Wallau said “NYPD Blue”
does not air on two ABC stations
in Mississippi.
Authorities reveal
Columbine contacts
BY ROBERT WELLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAKEWOOD, COLO.
Authorities had at least 15 con
tacts with the Columbine High
School killers dating back two
years before their murderous at
tack, the state attorney general
said Thursday, angering families
of the victims.
Ken Salazar also said he is in
Salazar said his investigators
looked at how sheriff’s officials re
acted to 1997 complaints about
Harris, from a thrown snowball
that cracked a car window to a
prank telephone call.
There were more ominous
signs, too. Authorities have said
an anonymous tip that year led a
deputy to a Web site run by Harris
that said the two teens had built
pipe bombs and concluded, “Now
our only problem is to find the
place that will be ‘ground zero.’”
Authorities on Thursday also
publicly unveiled a chilling dis
play of evidence and released two
videos, one of the anxious scene in
a park across the street from the
school that day, and another, 90
minute compilation of videos
made by Harris and Klebold.
PHOTO BY ALISON SHUMAN/THE GAMECOCK
Morgan Cooke, Bates House resident adviser, consults his
curriculum while teaching on Wednesday.
PR team brings
credit seminar
for students
BY HILARY SCHRAMM
THE GAMECOCK
Ninety students attended two
sessions of a credit education
program this week at Patterson
and Bates residence halls.
The program, “Your Credit.
Your Future,” produced by
USC’s Palmetto Solutions team
contending in a public relations
competition, taught students
about credit through video, a
quiz and personal testimonies
by the students’ RAs. It was held
Tuesday night at Patterson and
Wednesday night at Bates
House.
Palmetto Solutions decided to
seek the help of RAs and
University Housing in teaching
about credit after focus groups
and over 250 surveys showed that
RAs are very influential in the
lives of their residents. Three RAs
at Patterson and five at Bates par
ticipated in the event, and all RAs
in Bates were encouraged to
bring at least four students to the
Wednesday program.
“We really thought it was im
portant to include the RAs in our
education programs, because re
search showed how influential
they are,” third-year public rela
tions student Jacque Riley said.
“Their presence brought the stu
dents in and allowed them to open
up to a more personal level.”
During the program, RAs
asked questions and rewarded
students who answered with 11
gift certificates from local restau
rants. Restaurant sponsors in
cluded Texas Roadhouse,
Hennessey’s Restaurant and
Lounge, Chico’s, Sesame Inn and
India Pavilion. They also
showed a video about a clueless
freshman forced to make credit
decisions.
Students enjoyed the events,
which also included music, free
food and free gifts such as pens
and peanuts. Preliminary eval
uation survey data shows that
most students thought the event
was successful and informative,
and most RAs would recom
mend that others teach “Your
credit. Your future.”
“I came to learn about credit,
because I didn’t have a credit
card yet, and they talk about in
terest rates and applying for
one,” first-year criminal justice
student Shanetra Davis said.
Other students left the meet
ings with a more serious and ac
curate idea of what credit is
about.
“I like to spend money, and I
was thinking about getting a
credit card,” first-year biology
student Kalendra Thompson
said. “This was a way to make
me think twice.”
Credit is growing more im
portant every year, as students
across the country grow in
creasingly dependent upon
loans and financing to pay for
college. According to the State
Public Interest Research
Group’s Higher Education
Project, 64 percent of college stu
dents graduated with student
loan debt in 1999-2000. Loan
provider Nellie Mae currently
charts the average student debt
at $18,900.
To help educate young adults
about credit and prevent debt
problems, the “Your Credit.
Your Future.” program will also
be presented to University 101
classes and area high schools.
More information on credit
and on Palmetto Solutions can
be found at www.yourcredity
ourfuture.net.
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gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
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vestigating whether authorities
tried to cover up what they knew
about the rampage.
He did not blame the Jefferson
County sheriff’s office for missing
warning signs about Eric Harris
and Dylan Klebold and said he
found no evidence of negligence.
The attorney general said his
investigation is not complete and
has grown from a request to look
into contacts between the killers
and investigators two years before
the attack.
Asked if he thought there was
a cover-up, he said, “I do not know
today.” Speaking in a room with
somber families of the dead star
ing at him from the back wall,
Salazar promised to issue a sup
plemental report.
Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17,
killed 12 students and a teacher be
fore taking their own lives at the
school near Littleton on April 20,
1999. It remains the deadliest
school shooting in U.S. history.