This week, our Editor-in-Chief, Jacob Christensen, was featured in videos posted by the Black Menaces. Once again, they brought their deceptive tactics to BYU by filming on campus without permission from the school, continuing to humiliate and exploit BYU students on their social media.
After a BYU faculty member initially confronted the Black Menaces and threatened to call the police, Jacob was encouraged by the faculty member to interrupt their videos to prevent the continuing harassment of BYU students.
Jacob, his pregnant wife, and his fellow classmates have been repeatedly exploited, ridiculed, and physically threatened by the Black Menaces and their followers.
BYU’s Filming and Photography policy states:
“The university does not allow people or businesses to film or photograph on campus and use that media for promotional, marketing, commercial, advocacy, or similar purposes. This prohibition includes individuals whose work on YouTube or other digital platforms is aimed at generating income through advertising, music sales, lead generation, or other means.”
The Black Menaces actively break this policy, along with the other filming policies, and advocate teachings contrary to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on their social media. It is uncommon to find a post from the Black Menaces that does not include clickbait videos with comments ridiculing and threatening BYU students. The Black Menaces have a history of this behavior that has been unaddressed for far too long. As such, we find it necessary to push back against their activism.
For the reader, we invite you to read the comments posted on the following slides and underneath other videos found on their account. These comments, often liked by the head of the Black Menaces, are only a few examples.
From The Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So, rather than remaining a neutral party to the news, The Cougar Chronicle instead has its editor insert itself into the issue, not in a news gathering capacity, and possibly at the behest of an administrator.
The Chronicle holds itself out to be an “independently run student newspaper at BYU.” So the question is whether this is truly an independently run news outlet or part of the enforcement arm of the BYU administration with which it claims to be unaffiliated. It seems strange that a newspaper would focus on whether people are getting interviewed on campus by another publication that left rather than taking the time to interview students on campus using the same policy that would allow the rival advocacy group (Black Menaces) to interview students. In essence, the Chronicle seems to be advocating for less freedom to cover news.
While this would seem to feed into common tropes about neo-conservative groups trying to quash or limit press freedoms, it also seems counterintuitive and certainly taking the time to deride another outlet’s journalism hardly one that one could expect as seen “through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Of course, it’s quite possible that reporting the news is an act antithetical to the Gospel anyway.