Lexington, KY - Welcome to our civic world, Lexington: Cue the music, Rod Serling.
Amid last week's hubbub at UK Athletics' expense, overhyped pseudo-First Amendment tripe or crucial free press battle, depending on your civic world view, came a comment that rocked my blue-and-white socks.
First, in case you missed the headlines: "UK Athletics revokes Kernel's access to basketball interviews," Kentucky Kernel, Aug. 29, 2011
"Kentucky debates media ethics-again," ESPN blog post, Aug. 30, 2011, 9:04 p.m.
"UK basketball bans student reporter," an Associated Press story on USA Today's website, giving credit to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Aug. 30, 2011, posted 3:04 p.m.
"Dignity, like David, takes on UK Goliath," Lexington Herald-Leader's "Kentucky Voices," Sept. 2, 2011.
That was my Kentucky voice speaking up for the student reporter trying to confirm the validity of tweets suggesting that two other UK students had made Coach Cal's basketball team as walk-ons.
What quickly got lost in the skirmish was that we are dealing with students, whether they are young journalism prospects or amazing athletes who can defy the odds and make an SEC team, any team, as walk-ons.
As students they deserve our respect for seeking higher education, something that bitter rivals Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton agreed was essential to sustaining the great American experiment in democracy.
Amid the firestorm came a comment that the student reporter "got exactly what he deserved." The statement was posted on the Kernel's website and it added:
"This is what happens when pretend journalist get greedy Ö He had unbelieveable access to the players and blew it. I'm glad UK revoked his access. There is no First Amendment violation. The Constitution demands free speech, not free access."
Wait, does the Constitution demand free speech, or does the First Amendment to the Constitution protect it? And, if you have firsthand access to truth, you can deliver higher-quality free speech, right?
Good citizens, just like U.S. Supreme Court justices, can disagree on what is or is not a First Amendment violation, so that part didn't bother me.
It was the "pretend journalist" phrase that snapped back my head. It made me wonder whether UK's teaching hospital uses "pretend doctors" to treat patients, or whether the law school offers clients "pretend lawyers," or whether the Gatton College of Business and Economics admits "pretend entrepreneurs" into its MBA programs.
The Kernel did not pretend to receive the 2010 General Excellence Award from the Kentucky Press Association, nor did it pretend to accept a 2008 Pacemaker Award, the Pulitzer Prize for college journalism.
Then I read that the comment was attributed to Thalethia Routt, Associate General Counsel in UK's Central Legal Office.
"When asked by the Kernel if she was the one who posted the comment, she said that she was and that she had been in a bad mood that morning," according to an Aug. 31 story in the student newspaper.
Off went my socks and I pondered until it all made sense. No luck, all I had was this flashback to 25 years ago when Dan Rather was attacked on Park Avenue by a man who kept saying, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"
Civic education, like business, is a transaction: You may have the goods, let's say the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, but whether anyone is buying them has to do with the capacity of citizens to read them, to understand them and then to take appropriate actions.
When, for me, that action means speaking out, I remember the immortal words of Abe Lincoln:
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
That's good advice that can keep all of us out of "The Twilight Zone."
Buck Ryan is director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of UK's Scripps Howard First Amendment Center. He can be reached at
buck.ryan@uky.edu