Franklin, whose running for congress in Indiana's 5th district, attended a protest at Shafer Tower in support of Palestine on October 9.
"I'm out here today to give a voice to the starving children in Gaza, the innocent men, women and children that are being bombed every single day by the terrorist state of Israel," Franklin said.Franklin said the protest is part of a larger, statewide coalition, Indiana United Against Genocide. On October 8, WTHR reports the coalition held a rally at the Indiana Statehouse as part of their "Week of Action against the conflict in Gaza."
The CI overheard NewsLink Indiana (NLI) interviewing Franklin.
NLI did not ask Franklin about the protest, rather, his personal opinion on university-managed student media.
"[NLI] were wondering about Ball State journalism and how that relates to students, and how it related," Franklin said. "And I'm just like, 'Hey! I'm a politician, I'm running for congress, ask a student in this that goes to this campus, more so, about their relation to the Ball State journalism.'"
"'I can talk about Palestine, my positions on Palestine, I can talk about national politics. If you want to talk about Ball State journalism, specifically, I am not at liberty to say as well as educated as some of the other people.' So, I kinda just skewed the conversation more towards what I'm--what should be getting asked, to be frank," Franklin recalled.
It wasn't until some protesters, in addition to The CI's founder, Vivian Bostick, spoke up about the questions asked by university-managed student media that a reporter yelled for those critical of student media to be interviewed.
Bostick spoke with NLI for just under 11 minutes, uploading the full, raw interview to The CI and YouTube.
In the interview, Bostick mentioned plans on filing a request under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) to obtain records outlining how university-managed student media is funded. The APRA request has been printed, and will be filed by The CI in-person on the afternoon of October 10.
The CI already has a pending APRA request with Ball State University, regarding records related to the firing of Suzanne Swierc.
Following the protest, sometime between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., NLI posted this video on their Facebook page, incorrectly noting the demonstration as a "Student Media Protest" in the lower third.
"And, earlier today, Ball State students protested student media," a reporter said. "Hear what they have to say."
In the introduction for NLI's October 9 broadcast, the lower third read, "Campus Protests Continue."
It wasn't until that newscast, which had technical difficulties that cut audio from both the introduction and the package, that NLI clarified the protest was in regards to Palestine, not student media.
While Bostick can be seen in the crowd, she was speaking with protesters and taking photos, videos, and audio on the scene, while journalists with university-managed student media, for the most part, stayed off to the side.
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