Mike was my floormate in the dorms and has grown into quite the outstanding conservative voice on the UCLA Campus, to such success that The Daily Bruin ran a hit piece on him after he was appointed to the Associated Students UCLA Communications Board, for having been an editor of the Bruin Standard (a conservative quarterly newspaper that began publication my last year of UCLA) and, worst of all, for being a *gasp* conservative libertarian~!
His MySpace, Facebook, and the Bruin Standard
Here's his response to the unhinged hit piece on him (which the Daily Bruin, of course, refuses to print) and I'm copying it all here because not everyone has facebook or access to his note.
"Your Boy Mike, Front Page"
So here’s the situation; because of my previous experience
working for various publications as well as my involvement in student
government the President of the UCLA Undergraduate Student Association
decided to appoint me to the Associated Students UCLA Communications
Board after I turned in my five page application. Normally this is not
a very contentious process but because I am an outspoken
conservative/right-wing/li
the crazy anti-American, commie fascist, radical-Islam supporters at
UCLA unleashed the gates of hell on your lovable, chill, quiet,
favorite Egyptian, Mike.
Here is the “hit piece” that the
Daily Bruin published (and kept of the front page for over FIVE days)
about what a horrible person I am:
http://dailybruin.com/news/2007/sep/14/usac_appoints_former_bruin_standard_editor_communi/
(If this link doesn’t work the article is all the way at the bottom.)
I
plan on framing it and putting it on my wall. Keep it up crazies, it’s
just fuel for my fire. ALL my friends and family are sooo proud of me
especially my Pops. Oh, and not to mention all this attention really
helps me out with the ladies, haha!
But wait, they’re not done.
Saba Riazati called me the other day and told me that I was on speaker
phone with the entire editorial board of the Daily Bruin and proceeded
to interrogate me. They were trying to get certain answers from me
rather than the truth. When they didn’t get what they wanted they
became clearly aggravated. When a frustrated Saba hit a wall, the
Viewpoint editor jumped in and asked the same questions in different
ways to get what they wanted for a story they were crafting.
Apparently
they’re gearing up to write another hit piece on me, but this time
it’ll be in the editorial section, so we can all expect it to be waaay
worst than the first story. I CAN’T WAIT, bring it on, I love it.
When
I asked if they would print my response, Saba implied that it was
unlikely. Below is my response that Saba and the Daily Bruin will in
all likelihood completely ignore.
Show me a man that is loved by everyone, and I’ll show you a man that stands for nothing.
Holler at your boy,
MIKE!!!
__________________________
This
is in response to DB news editor, Anthony Pesce’s biased, factually
incorrect, hit piece on me which ran on September 14, 2007, regarding
my appointment to the ASUCLA Communications Board. First, I feel that
it goes against basic journalistic values that no one from the DB
bothered to contact me regarding an article that was entirely about me.
It is also very unethical to have three biased quotes in one article
from the Editor in Chief in his/her’s own paper while having not a
single quote from the person that the article is about.
Second,
student magazine editor Hector Pena and BD Editor in Chief Saba
Riazati’s charged that we at the Bruin Standard violated the ‘Society
of Professional Journalists' code of ethics. Anyone can clearly see
this as merit-less because neither I nor any member of the Bruin
Standard ever attempted or claimed to be journalists. We were/are
commentators; we wrote opinion pieces, not hard news. Therefore we were
not bound by this code of ethics and I cannot understand why someone in
Riazati’s position dose not understand this concept.
Ironically,
Riazati’s and the Daily Bruin violated this same code of ethics that
they, as journalists, are bound by. They violated this code in a number
of ways; first by blatant lies. Riazati claimed that my appointment was
made in haste. In reality I submitted my application at the end of the
last school year, I was then interviewed before three members of the
council who later approved me to go before the entire council.
The
second lie was the statement regarding the picture on my Myspace
profile. This was in fact never brought up at any point during my
confirmation hearing. If it was, I would have stated it was simply an
homage to a local LA underground punk band who’s album cover had a
American solider holding a large gun. A song on the album had lyrics
that read, “I kill leftists, I kill commie fascist murderers, and I am
hated for it.” These lyrics were a tribute to American veterans who
fought in Vietnam against the communist Viet Cong army and came home
only to be spat on by anti-war protesters. Again, I was never able to
explain this to the council because it was never brought up at any
point during my almost two hour long confirmation hearing.
It
should also be noted that only two council members voted against me and
that after my confirmation I reached out to everyone, including those
who moments earlier were attacking my character, morals, and integrity.
Lastly,
I would like to emphasis that I am extremely proud of my past and/or
present affiliations with the Bruin Standard, Orthodox News, the
College Republicans, Bruins United, and now the ASUCLA Communications
Board of Directors.
-Michael Rafail (a.k.a. Mike Soliman)
__________________________
Anthony Pesce, News Editor
Published: Friday, September 14, 2007
The
Undergraduate Students Association Council appointed one of the former
managing editors of the Bruin Standard to the Associated Students UCLA
Communications Board at a special meeting on Tuesday night.
Michael
Rafail, the newly confirmed appointee, faced over an hour and a half of
questions and discussion before the appointment was made, delving into
his background on The Standard and his personal politics and ethics.
The
Bruin Standard is a conservative and libertarian opinion publication on
campus, published quarterly, which was founded by former Daily Bruin
Viewpoint columnist Garin Hovannisian.
The Communications Board
serves as the publisher for all of Student Media at UCLA, which
includes the Daily Bruin, several news magazines and bruinwalk.com.
The
board consists of a student majority, with four undergraduate student
representatives appointed by USAC, four graduate student
representatives appointed by the Graduate Students Association, and
seven other members, including a faculty representative, administration
representative and several community seats.
The board approves
the budget for Student Media and all of its publications, manages the
department's finances, implements journalistic standards, and hires the
top editor for each publication, said Arvli Ward, the director of
Student Media.
For at least the past 15 years, the board has not interfered with the editorial content of any of the publications, Ward added.
Several
of the newsmagazine editors issued a joint statement to council urging
them not to appoint someone who had worked as an editor for a
publication that was created to counter the mission of Student Media
and harm the reputation of its publications.
The editors, led by
Hector Pena of La Gente de Aztlan magazine, questioned Rafail’s
journalistic and moral integrity and expressed concern that he would
help make the decision to appoint the next round of editors for the
magazines.
“The writers of the Bruin Standard continually
violate the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics,” Pena
said. “Allowing someone on our board that has had a hand in such antics
would be counterproductive to our mission.”
Rafail, who also
goes by the name Mike Soliman, said his experience with helping to
produce a small publication would make him a good choice for the
position – a sentiment others on council echoed throughout the meeting.
He
also said he has plenty of other outlets to express his political
opinions and would never let his politics bleed into his role on the
board.
Saba Riazati, the editor in chief of the Daily Bruin,
said that though the appointment of Rafail creates uneasiness among
some of the newsmagazines and the Daily Bruin, she has the utmost faith
in the board and does not foresee any shifts in board policy.
“The
Communications Board has never meddled with the editorial content of
the Daily Bruin, nor have they interfered or controlled content when
and if something we publish has not been to their pleasing. For this I
am grateful, as our readers and the community will be able to receive
information without censorship,” Riazati said after the meeting.
“(Rafail's)
appointment was made in haste, without considerable review of his prior
affiliations with a publication openly disregarding ethical codes
within the realm of journalism, which should be alarming to the board
members, as they are our publishers and will be working with (him) in
the coming year,” she added.
Councilmembers Sanobar Sajan and
Bernice Shaw, members of the slate Students First!, echoed the concerns
of the newsmagazine editors at the meeting, questioning groups he
belonged to on Facebook and MySpace such as “smash left wing scum” and
a picture of him holding a gun with a caption that reads “I kill
leftists.”
Rafail, a Bruins United slate supporter during the
previous year’s USAC elections, said by “left wing” he means radical
communists such as Joseph Stalin.
Gabe Rose, USAC president and
a member of Bruins United, and Katya Balan, a member of the board and
supporter of Bruins United, chastised the council for asking him
questions about his political leanings and defended his character.
Rose
said Rafail was forwarded for the position because of his experience on
publications, including The Standard, and that other applicants did not
possess those qualifications.
Riazati questioned the appointment and wondered why Rose did not forward one of the other applicants.
“Simply
put, it just doesn’t make sense to appoint someone to a nonpartisan
publishing body who, by recent, prior involvement, has shown a lack of
respect and understanding of not only The Bruin but journalism in its
entirety,” she said.
Recent Comments