Measure Blocks 'Theft' of Free Student Newspapers · 04 March 2004
By Julia C. Martinez--Denver Post, 03/02/04
It started as an effort to curb the theft of free newspapers in Colorado mountain towns.
On Monday, a newspaper theft bill was amended by Senate President John Andrews to protect student newspapers from being swiped by opposing campus groups.
"There have been a number of incidents in Colorado and across the country where student newspapers have been stolen," Andrews, R-Centennial, told the Senate State Affairs Committee during debate on House Bill 1057. "This goes to the issue of academic freedom."
While Andrews did not say the bill was aimed at protecting conservative publications, he said he's never heard of conservatives vandalizing liberal newspapers.
"As a conservative, I probably am more aware of unfair treatment of conservative students, ... and I don't remember ever hearing of conservative students becoming hooligans and stealing or trashing papers from the liberal or leftist side," Andrews said.
Jessica Corry, director of the Independence Institute's Campus Accountability Project, said conservative newspapers have been targeted by liberals nationally.
"When someone steals an entire press run, that's censorship by destruction," she said.
But Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, said, "Republicans are very good at creating problems where there are none."
"By doing that, they raise tensions and cause conflict where none existed before," she said.
The committee passed the measure, sponsored by Sen. Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs, unanimously and advanced it to the Senate floor for debate.
The bill would make it a misdemeanor crime, punishable by fines, for people to take more than five copies of a free newspaper. The bill also would require that a notice be posted on the newspaper box or the newspaper itself stating that "possession of more than five copies with intent to prevent other individuals from reading that edition of the newspaper is illegal."
Peter Weir, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys Council, said the measure would be virtually unenforceable without the warning.
The bill also gives free newspaper publishers, advertisers and readers the "private civil right" to sue the thieves.
The issue of campus newspaper theft has been a hot topic on the University of California's Berkeley campus for years. In 2001, an issue of The Daily Californian was stolen from all the campus kiosks.
It contained a paid ad by conservative activist David Horowitz saying blacks should not receive reparations for slavery.
Ioanna Athanasopoulos, former opinion writer and managing editor of Campus Press, the weekly student newspaper at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said Monday that several newspapers containing her editorials against liberal university policies or student government have disappeared from newspaper racks.
"I have written opinions not favorable to student government and I've heard various accounts of students taking bundles of newspapers and throwing them in the Dumpster," said Athanasopoulos, a 21-year-old journalism major.
"I am a registered Democrat, but I have been criticized for supporting conservative values."
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