Barometer Interview

• Role-wise (like a spokesperson), who in The Pressure is answering this email?

  1. Joseph Robinette Biden is our political correspondent, as established in previous communications on our instagram - otherwise we have only one other established role:

  2. Our Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of The Pressure

• What prompted your decision to create content exclusively about ASOSU?

  1. Why have you decided to create content exclusively about Dylan Perfect

•  Where does The Pressure get ideas for these ASOSU stories? 

  1. Whistleblowers, public meetings, occasionally we just ask random students about nightmares they have had recently and there is a lot of overlap with actual ASOSU proceedings. Mostly we just rely on the prophetic premonitions that come with being a modern day Cassandra.

• The Pressure has also taken on non-satire coverage, why?

  1. Lack of media coverage of certain events we felt needed to be covered and got tired of waiting for the Baro to get around to
     
     

Where did the idea for the fact-checked watermark come from? Also, is the post's content truly fact checked or is this satire?

• The fact checked watermark was submitted to us by real american patriots

• Our fact checking is on par with or exceeding the fact checking level of barometer articles; for our “fact checked” posts. Occasionally our satirical posts also meet this level of fact checking.

•  What are your goals for your posts?

  1. To inform, be funny, establish a media conglomerate to influence the masses 

•  Since The Pressure's initial creation, has there been a change in leadership?

  1. While there have been many attempts on the lives of Pressure editors, none have yet been removed from life or sent to prison indefinitely for their many crimes

• When we spoke over Instagram last year, you said half of your posts come from student suggestions, is this still the case? If not, how many are suggestions, and how many posts are content The Pressure creates themselves?

  1. We don’t necessarily track exactly what comes from where, but a lot of our content is still from student suggestions. We have considered going the ASOSU route and just asking Dan Larson to write all of our headlines but we are worried his meager income of $281,772 a year is not nearly enough to compensate for the stress and workload associated with being on The Pressure’s editorial team
     
     
     

When we spoke last year, you said your coverage was upsetting to members of ASOSU, and I've heard this is still the case. What are your thoughts on this?

2. “Is Criticizing Public Officials Bullying? We Asked 3 Public Officials and They Said Yes”

3. Ok but seriously we will address this one as there are larger issues at play. Does transparency and occasional satirical posts make public officials upset? We are sorry. Our coverage is usually based in some form of reality - the most widely shared and potentially “upsetting” posts about ASOSU members come not from us, but from @sfsgovt. sfsgovt is the only one to directly name individuals except for during our elections coverage. We are not at all affiliated with or involved in the running of sfsgovt, though have accepted collaboration requests for posts and included them in some of our non satire posts. If multiple media organizations feel the need to raise issues with ASOSU publicly, we feel there is likely a reason as to why. We have heard from many ASOSU members that they feel bullied and harassed by the President and executive staff. Members feel targeted for being neurodivergent and when confronted on this the President told the ASOSU Senate that her staff would be uncomfortable discussing ableism or doing training on it. Leadership sets the culture at ASOSU - insistence on isolationism of leadership and attacking “others” or “outgroups” rather than openly communicating and creating dialogue has helped lead to these issues. We feel public officials who are paid for their time have a greater responsibility for this than a rando onion wannabe page.

• I've heard rumors that the people involved with The Pressure are in ASOSU. Do you see a conflict-of-interest issue with making content critiquing and commenting on ASOSU while being in ASOSU?

  1. No more of a conflict of interest than the barometer receiving their funding from ASOSU and having “advisors”/supervisors who work for Student Affairs. We have had some of your writers reach out to us to complain about this conflict within OMN actually.

• I understand you may not answer this, but are members of The Pressure involved in ASOSU?

  1. No, our members are only involved in ASUO.

• What are your future goals with the account?

  1. We hope to one day be popular enough that Dan Larson wishes to coup our organization as well.

  2. Launching The Pressure’s very own crypto scam

• Is there anything I should have asked or that I missed?

Once again, thank you for agreeing to an email interview. 

1.)

To the Barometer we ask, why are you making content about ASOSU? What is your goal?

The goals of media, art, and satire, are all connected. They shine light on the world around us and offer insights and interpretations into what is happening.

The independent media has often been described as a fourth estate - because it serves a critical role in allowing people outside of the government to understand what is being done with their money and in their name. It is thus worthwhile to document, critique, and tastefully satirize the actions of student government, as with any other public institution. The Barometer is not merely publicly funded, but also directly operated by the university. Additionally, independent media outlets are not a bad thing.

The Pressure is also uniquely a satirical publication, filling a gap not served by other media. Satire is not just meaningless entertainment, but a form of commentary and free expression that should be allowed and encouraged in a democratic society.

Perhaps most importantly, please consider we have extensively covered the goopy residue crisis on this campus, ever since we broke the story of Cief of Police Shannon Anderson's bombshell testimony in the spring. There has been little to no coverage by legacy media like the Barometer. Sources close to the matter lead us to believe that ASOSU may be anti-goop, but this remains a developing story