I pity those who did not attend the football game 
against Washington last month. Not because we 
pummeled the Huskies — although that was a treat 
— but rather because you missed the Michigan 
Marching Band’s halftime show. Dedicated to the 
victims of Sept. 11, 2001, the band performed an 
arrangement celebrating New York City and the rich 
American musical tradition, all the while decked out 
in colored LED lights. For their last song, J.P. Sousa’s 
“Stars and Stripes Forever,” the marching band 
formed a magnificent 70-yard long American flag.
At sight of the flag, the Big House erupted into 
cheers. That surprised me. I have always celebrated 
the flag; to me, it is a source of pride and a reminder of 
how lucky I am to live in this country. At the same time, 
I recognize that my association to the flag is not shared 
by all, especially given its currently polarizing character.
On Jan. 6, a sea of American flags, traditional and 
unorthodox, descended upon the Capitol building, 
carried by a mob bent on obstructing the democratic 
process. In Brazil, citizens advocating for anti-
democratic reforms adopted the flag as a symbol of 
their struggle, and this past July, a New York farmer 
was labeled a Trump supporter for the sin of displaying 
an American flag on the side of his potato truck.
It is shameful that our nation’s most iconic symbol 
could be co-opted by a single political faction. 
According to journalist Marc Leepson in his book, 
“Flag: An American Biography,” the Founding 
Fathers did not attach much significance to the flag. 
The first documented reference to the flag, the Flag 
Resolution of 1777, simply reads, 
“Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States 
be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the 
union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing 
a new constellation.” There might have been fierce debate 
between the Founders about the flag’s meaning behind 
closed doors, but according to most historians, the flag 
was likely born out of the simple necessity to distinguish 
the Continental Army in the field of battle. 
In the decades after the American Revolution, 
mythology began to crop up around the flag that 
masks the actual evolution of the flag within the 
national conscience. Did you know that Betsy Ross 

did not sew the first flag, or that Washington did not 
bring it with him when he crossed the Delaware, 
even if this famous painting gives that impression? It 
was not until the outbreak of the Civil War that the 
Stars and Stripes became a national symbol. Another 
seemingly primordial institution, the Pledge of 
Allegiance, was conceived at the end of the 19th 
century (relatively recently) to celebrate Columbus 
Day. The phrase “under God” was added in 1954 as 
a signal of anti-communism during the Cold War. 
Controversy over respect for the flag sparked during 
the Vietnam War, when anti-war advocates burned 
the flag as a sign of protest and reignited in 2016 
when former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick 
began kneeling during the national anthem.
History teaches us that the flag’s meaning has 
been altered over time to serve a variety of political 
purposes, even though the Founders did not view it as 
a political symbol. Why, then, does the flag continue 
to feature so prominently in national politics? 
Perhaps reverberations from the turbulent 
flag-burning Vietnam era have yet to settle in the 
national memory. Maybe the rapid expansion of 
post-9/11 patriotism was immediately soured by the 
revelation of the U.S. military’s conduct abroad, like 
mass torture, and the surge in Islamophobia at home. 
Whatever the reason, our preoccupation with the 
flag as a signal of political inclination is unnecessary, 
harmful and deserves to be retired. 
Our generation should usher in a period of New 
Nationalism. Take pride in the flag, not as a symbol of 
government, but of people. Claim it as your property. 
Pour into it all the hopes you have for the future of the 
country, and let that be your American flag. Do not 
let any one faction force their version of the flag upon 
you. If Biden loses the presidency in 2024, do not retire 
your flag. Keep it flying right next to your preferred 
candidate’s sign as a signal of your dual commitment to 
both your politics and your country as a whole. Direct 
your political energy towards organizing, protesting 
and campaigning as you see fit, but preserve the 
flag as an institution set apart from the politics and 
polarization of the day. The nation desperately needs 
to remember that we are bound by the same red, white 
and blue fabric, and we all have a stake in the future 
success of the country. By consigning the old flag to the 
annals of history and hoisting a new one in its stead, we 
take the first necessary steps towards remembrance. 

Over the past decade, the Ultimate 
Fighting Championship has enjoyed a 
meteoric rise from relative obscurity 
to one of the most popular sports and 
entertainment products in the United 
States. The 2010s saw the UFC’s greatest 
stars transcend not just their own sports, 
but all sports. Former two-division 
champion Conor McGregor is arguably 
the most famous athlete on the entire 
planet. Former lightweight champion 
Khabib Nurmagomedov is the single most 
popular athlete in all of Russia, according 
to Forbes. UFC President Dana Frederick 
White Jr. has led the organization for over 
20 years, shepherding it to its status as 
the worldwide leader in combat sports. 
So why would White, the man largely 
responsible for the UFC’s prominence, 
have a 55.1% disapproval rating from 
MMA fans?
The Athletic’s polling of fight fans 
in April 2020 laid out a pretty stark 
contrast: Fans love the UFC, but not the 
man at its helm. Given the time at which 
the poll was administered, it stands to 
reason that the pandemic would be a 
factor. The responses bore that out: Many 
respondents noted the UFC’s attempts 
to push forward with holding a pay-per-
view event, UFC 249, at the height of the 
pandemic, as a reason for their displeasure 
with White. That’s obviously a valid 
grievance, but it is itself part-and-parcel 
of the overarching problem many MMA 
fans and fighters alike have with White: 
The man treats his fighters horribly. 
While attempting to hold a combat sports 
event as an uncontrolled, aerosolized 
virus ran rampant across the world would 
be enough to convince most people that 
White doesn’t value the athletes upon 
whom his success is based, there’s actually 
more than that. The UFC pays its fighters 

an embarrassingly small percentage of its 
overall revenues, while White himself has 
a net worth of $500 million and an annual 
salary of $20 million. 
The four major sports leagues in North 
America (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) each 
have revenue-sharing deals collectively 
bargained between the leagues and 
the players’ unions, and each of those 
agreements provides for the athletes to 
receive at least 48.5% of total revenues 
generated by the league. Such equitable 
compensation has been par for the course 
in North American sports for decades — it 
would be unimaginable to the common 
sports fan for their favorite athletes to not 
receive their fair share of the revenues 
they themselves drive. The UFC, though, 
has no revenue-sharing deal. In fact, there 
is no MMA fighters’ union at all, though 
roughly 80% of MMA fighters support 
unionization. As a result, White is the sole 
arbiter of how the UFC pays its fighters, 
and many of the UFC’s 
signature stars 
have sacrificed some of their prime years 
as athletes over White’s refusal to pay 
them their worth. 
Henry Carlos Cejudo, former two-
division UFC champion and Olympic 
gold medal wrestler, retired after his 
last bantamweight title defense at (the 
later-rescheduled) UFC 249, partly due 
to pay concerns. Jon Jones, former light 
heavyweight champion and widely 
considered the greatest mixed martial 
artist to ever live, has not fought in nearly 
two years due to continued breakdowns 
in contractual negotiations with White. 
McGregor has fought three times since 
2020, including two blockbuster pay-per-
view main events against Dustin Poirier, 
former interim lightweight champion, 
this year. However, McGregor’s status as 
the highest-paid athlete in the world is 
misleading to say the least. According to 
Forbes, just $22 million of the $180 million 
McGregor had made in the first five 
months of this year (after the first Poirier 

fight and before the second) came from 
his UFC contract. The remaining $158 
million came from endorsements and 
other outside revenue streams. 
While no one should shed a tear for 
the wallet of a man worth hundreds of 
millions of dollars, McGregor’s income 
breakdown is indicative of a systemic 
problem that White is clearly responsible 
for. The UFC so grossly underpaid 
the brightest star in its history to such 
a degree that McGregor did not step 
into the octagon for nearly two years. 
Instead, McGregor turned his attention 
to boxing, where the athlete’s earnings 
potential is far more lucrative, and put 
on a “superfight” against legendary 
boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Rather 
than suspecting that McGregor’s move 
was demonstrative of a problem that 
required an actual solution, White simply 
punished McGregor, stripping him of his 
lightweight belt for inactivity. 
The Score reports that the UFC has 
never paid its fighters more than 20% 
of its total revenue, multiple pathetic 
steps below the aforementioned revenue 
sharing norms in place for major North 
American sports. Some of Dana White’s 
top stars have publicly lambasted him for 
his mistreatment of fighters. 
And yet, nothing has changed, and 
there is no evidence, in spite of fighters’ 
overwhelming support for unionizing, 
that anything will change. It is clear 
that these changes will not come from 
within. The only way White will change 
his ways is if his current arrangement 
becomes untenable, but as the UFC’s 
popularity continues to skyrocket, it 
seems less and less likely that such a day 
will ever come. It is incumbent upon the 
leaders of organized labor nationwide, 
not to mention the U.S. government, to 
impress upon White that there will be 
consequences if he continues to hamper 
unionization and deprive his athletes of 
their rightful paychecks.

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 — 9 

L
esley Benedikt was driving home from 
the funeral of her husband, Josh Mitnick, 
when her phone rang. Josh, a former managing 
editor for The Michigan Daily, had gone on 
to report in Israel for Bloomberg News, the 
Wall Street Journal and other newspapers 
before he succumbed to cancer at the age of 
50. The call came from a consultant to the 
Palestine Authority, who told her that Josh 
had always listened to him and, unlike many 
other outsiders, understood the Palestinian 
perspective.
That message would have come as no 
surprise to anybody who knew Josh — either 
as a student journalist in Ann Arbor, or as a 
professional. That is how Josh lived his life 
and worked his craft: He was earnest and 
diligent, and always able to see the humanity 
in everybody. He was soft-spoken, serious, 
gentle and cerebral — unless he was watching 
Michigan sports, in which case he was neurotic, 
irrational, emotive and sometimes very, very 
loud.
I 
knew Josh most of my life. Our parents were 
friends from their college days in Ann Arbor. 
The Mitnicks lived in New Jersey, and my 
family lived in Detroit, but the Mitnicks would 
often visit us when they made their pilgrimage 
to Ann Arbor.
Josh was two years older than me, and I 
looked up to him. He enrolled at the University 
of Michigan and joined The Daily, and we’d 
sometimes visit him in Ann Arbor. He’d enthrall 
me with his stories about the paper, and I knew 
I wanted to follow his path.
Two of Josh’s Daily contemporaries, Mona 
Qureshi-Hart (Class of 1995) and Yael Citro 
(Class of 1994), spoke with several of Josh’s 
Daily colleagues, who shared a wide array of 
memories with them.
1991 graduate Miguel Cruz, a news editor, 
remembers Josh as a calming presence at a 
time when The Daily was riven with factional 
infighting. “The thing about him that made 
the strongest impression on me was how 
frustrating he found it when people from 
opposite sides of an argument couldn’t find 
a reasonable common ground,” Miguel said 
now. “In his view, if we would just calm down 
and listen to each other, there was always a way 
that we could move forward and get back to 
solving the problems that were affecting all of 
us. He knew when to call me out for being more 
concerned about scoring points than about 
being constructive, and that part of Josh that 
lives inside my head is still making me a better 
person today.”

Andy Gottesman, 1992 graduate, was editor-
in-chief at the time. Andy and Josh started 
together as first-year students on The Daily. 
“I remember him as an extremely serious 
journalist. He had no interest in goofball 
politics at The Daily,” Andy said. Whenever 

there was a question or debate of how to move 
things forward, Andy recalled, Josh would say, 
“The New York Times wouldn’t do it this way.” 
And then, Andy says, Josh would promptly 
focus on the task at hand. “He loved putting 
out news every day. He was a newsman.” 
Daily contemporary Mark Katz (Class of 1992) 
started alongside both Josh and Andy and 
proceeded to study in Israel after his second 
year. In his eulogy to Josh at his funeral, Mark 
shared that Josh viewed the opportunity as one 
to elevate the news at The Daily. Josh had Mark 
string for The Daily from Israel. Mark would 
call in with his news pieces and dictate them 
into the phone.
1994 graduate Andrew Levy started on the 
opinion page but switched to news reporting, 
where Josh helped him make the transition. 
“Josh was super welcoming and wonderful,” he 
recalled. “He was a really good mentor. A lot of 
people didn’t have the time (between The Daily 
and school) but he made time for me.” 1993 
grad Matt Rennie, 
a 
Daily 
editor, 
said, 
“He 
was 
someone who had 
a lot of personal 
and 
professional 
integrity.”
Josh 
shared 
his love of jazz 
with friends and 
colleagues — with 
an 
infectious 
enthusiasm. 
1994 
graduate Bethany Robertson, one of Josh’s 
reporters, recalled tagging along with him to 
a free concert at the Michigan Theater. Karen 
Scholl, a 1995 graduate, news editor and friend 
of Josh’s sister, Carrie, remembers shopping 
for jazz albums with him. They both say the 
same thing now: “When I hear jazz, I still think 
of him.” Andy shares that as he worked, Josh 
would tap his fingers on the table. “He had a 
jazz beat in his head,” he said.
My favorite memory of Josh came when we 
played together in the annual football game 
against the State News. In those days, the game 
was pure brutality: eleven on eleven, full tackle. 
Until that point, the game had been played six 
times, and the State News had won every time. 
In 1992 — my sophomore year, his senior year 
— The Daily finally got serious and spent some 
time practicing and installing plans.
Josh and I handled the two safety positions 
in our two-deep zone. At first Josh, having never 
played organized football, was utterly terrified of 
the responsibility of having multiple opponents 
running through his area, knowing one false 
step could allow a touchdown. But he picked it 
up quickly, and even made an interception, in a 
shutout win — The Daily’s first ever.
Josh told me that day that he felt terribly 
guilty that he had spent years watching 
Michigan games and shouting angrily at the 
defensive backs when they let the opposing 
receivers catch the ball in front of them. Having 
stood in their shoes, and having lived the fear 
of giving up a long touchdown pass (but not 
having allowed any), he swore he would never 
question them again.
Josh’s legacy at The Daily and elsewhere is 
how he exemplified the journalist, the human 
that worked to understand and appreciate 
other humans. The immediate Daily Managing 
Editor prior to Josh, Kristine Lalonde, said, “We 
lost a mensch (this week) — we all can honor 
his memory by bringing more empathy and 

compassion to the world.”
Shortly after Josh died, Yair Lapid, Israel’s 
foreign minister and prime minister-in-
waiting, eulogized him on the Knesset floor. 
There are few journalists — if any at all — who 
managed to win the respect and affection of 
Israelis and Palestinians alike. His legacy as 
a journalist is the exact same as his legacy as a 
human being: to understand his fellow humans 
and bring enlightenment into the world.
***
R
eflections from Daily alumni on Josh 
Mitnick: Sept. 2, 2021
Bethany Robertson, Class of 1994
Josh was Bethany’s first editor and she 
remembers him as very serious. He was not 
looking for the fluff story, ever, and was always 
looking for what was underneath. In the 
middle of a nightside shift, he mentioned he 
was leaving the building.
Bethany asked where he was headed. Josh 
replied that he was going to the Michigan 
Theatre for some 
free music. 501 
Jazz used to put on 
an hour of free jazz 
one night a month. 
Being a relatively 
new person as a 
first-year at The 
Daily, 
Bethany 
was surprised to 
see this extra layer 
in her very serious 
editor. And she was 
even more excited as a first-year to be asked to 
join him.
Bethany walked into the grand venue with 
Josh: “It was the most magical thing I’d ever 
seen, staring down the staircase at this free 
concert. I remember looking at Josh and he 
was so transfixed, so present. I still think of him 
every time I hear jazz.”
Erin Einhorn, Class of 1995
Erin didn’t know Josh well. She was in her 
first year when Josh took the reins as Managing 
Editor. But she remembers extremely clearly 
an incident shortly after she started with The 
Daily. Erin explained that ahead of the Fall 1991 
term, that there had been some rioting after 
the conclusion of a football game. As Michigan 
football prepared to play Michigan State, there 
was reason to believe that some additional 
rioting on campus might occur.
Erin expressed elation and excitement at 
the idea of jumping into a big story because she 
was new and well on her way to her journalism 
career.
“Josh was appalled,” she said. “He asked, 
‘How are you excited about a riot?’” He was 
the grown-up in the room and understood that 
news isn’t a game. He understood the people 
behind it.” Erin indicated that is when she first 
learned that lesson.
Andrew Levy, Class of 1994
Andrew mentioned he had a chance to spend 
time with Josh for about a year and a half. The 
way that Andrew remembers him is the one 
who was focused, who made efforts to mentor 
and loop in junior reporters, and someone who 
avoided politics among his staff.
Andrew also remembers he was a 
challenging person when he first joined The 
Daily as a first year as a member of its editorial 
staff. “It was an intimidating experience so I 
tried news. Josh was super welcoming and 
wonderful. He was a really good mentor. A lot of 
people didn’t have the time (between The Daily 

and school) but he made time for me.”
Andrew also recalls Josh’s commitment 
to Hillel and Jewish causes and how he 
seamlessly meshed this passion with his work 
and welcomed junior reporters along. Andrew 
recalled a story about Josh recruiting him 
to attend an American Israel Public Affairs 
Committee event for student journalists in 
Baltimore. They attended together. And on 
their return, at a time when flights were often 
overbooked, and people could get bumped and 
get a free plane ticket, Andrew and Josh were 
ready to garner some free travel by showing 
up early to the airport. Andrew fell asleep after 
they indicated they wanted to be on the bump 
and free ticket list and then woke to find the 
plane boarding and Josh gone. Apparently, 
Andrew had missed an additional call to the 
desk to confirm a bump, but Josh was able to 
take it.
Karen Scholl (Sabgir), Class of 1995
Karen started at The Daily as a first-year on 
the news staff while Josh was managing editor. 
That fall of 1991, many presidential candidates 
came to visit campus and Karen was assigned 
to cover Democratic candidate Tom Harkin. 
Karen recalls how excited and passionate 
Josh was about covering the candidates. 
She marveled in it because she didn’t know 
anything about Harkin at that point. She recalls 
his immense passion for Israel early on.
Karen, like Bethany, shares how Josh 
introduced her to jazz: “Whenever I hear jazz, I 
think of him.” She reflected on one of their visits 
to Tower Records and how she remarked on 
how pricey some of the CDs Josh was looking at 
were for how few tracks they offered: “He just 
looked at me and said, ‘It’s about the quality of 
the tracks, not the quantity.’”
Carrie Mitnick, Josh’s sister, lived down the 
hall from Karen and came to know his family 
well for many reasons, including being big 
Michigan fans: “He shaped my whole Michigan 
experience, his whole family. He introduced me 
to so much.”
Josh also introduced Karen to the joys of 
reading non-fiction — even at the beach: “We 
were on vacation at the beach and I looked over 
and there he was, reading Deborah, Golda, 
and Me. I thought you only read non-fiction if 
under duress. He was always learning things 
and wanted to know the world better. He was 
always a student.”
Andy Gottesman, Class of 1992
Andy was editor-in-chief while Josh was on 
The Daily. Andy mentioned he took his family 
to Israel four years ago and reached out but 
wasn’t able to connect.
Andy and Josh started together as first-year 
students on The Daily. “I remember him as an 
extremely serious journalist. He had no interest 

in goofball politics at The Daily.” Whenever 
there was a question or debate of how to move 
things forward, Andy recalled, Josh would say, 
“The New York Times wouldn’t do it this way.” 
As he would say something like this, Andy 
added that Josh would remove his spectacles 
and rub his forehead; “He loved putting out 
news every day. He was a newsman.”
Andy remembers Josh’s affections for 
music. He would recall that as Josh was 
editing, Josh sometimes would tap his fingers 
on the table rhythmically: “He had a jazz beat 
in his head.” He also remembers the Mitnicks’ 
affections for Michigan football. He once 
invited Josh over to watch an Ohio State game 
and his dad joined in: “His Dad was a bigger fan 
than anyone!”

Matt Rennie, Class of 1993
Matt was editor-in-chief following Andy 
and came from the sports desk during a 
streak of years when editors-in-chief came 
from sports. Matt recalls that when Josh was 
managing editor, he was sitting among a lot 
of big personalities: “The other leaders at The 
Daily were loud, big personalities. Josh was 
more reserved. He was someone who had a lot 
of personal and professional integrity.”
That reservation was still powerful, 
however. Matt shared that you could usually 
see pretty well ahead how things were going 
to go with a group during an argument: “Josh 
wasn’t afraid, even if it was clear his was going 
to be a minority opinion, to stick to his opinion 
even if it might be drowned out.”
Miguel Cruz, Class of 1991
Miguel was a news editor and weekend 
editor and provided more color about Josh’s 
management of conflicts in the newsroom and 
how he gravitated even at that time toward 
resolution of conflicts:
“The thing about him that made the strongest 
impression on me was how frustrating he 
found it when people from opposite sides of an 
argument couldn’t find a reasonable common 
ground. In his view, if we would just calm down 
and listen to each other, there was always a way 
that we could move forward and get back to 
solving the problems that were affecting all of us. 

Remembering Daily alumnus Josh Mitnick 

JONATHAN CHAIT, MONA QURESHI-
HART, YAEL CITRO
Op-ed Contributors

This flag was made for you and me

ALEX YEE
Opinion Columnist

Dana White: modern-day robber baron

JACK ROSHCO
Opinion Columnist

Josh Mitnick with his wife, Lesley Benedikt. Josh is pictured wearing a TMD crewneck. Image courtesy of Lesley Benedikt.

Together, Josh Mitnick and Mark Katz hold up a copy of The 
Daily. Image courtesy of Lesley Benedikt.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Josh pictured with his wife and their three children. The family 
lived in Tel Aviv, Israel. Image courtesy of Lesley Benedikt.

Josh pictured with his father, Stuart Mitnick. Both graduated from 
the University of Michigan. Image courtesy of Lesley Benedikt.

