Football
While Virginia fans don’t have a lot of reasons to enjoy the current football season, I’ve been having a good time reading The Cavalier Daily’s coverage. Zack Bartee and Michael Eilbacher in particular are writing pieces that are both fun and informative. They’re also doing so in a way that doesn’t take it all too seriously. See for examples from this past weekend, “Watford, receivers let loose in loss” or ““Georgia Tech rushes past Virginia, 35-25.” Both pieces have good flow and paint a good picture of the game and people involved in it.
Still missing some pieces
In the article “Ecstasy encounters provoke questions in University community,” Allie Hardesty writes that “Discussion surrounding the drug Molly, a pure form of MDMA — an amphetamine often laced with unknown substances — have been front and center in the University community ever since the death of second-year College student Shelley Goldsmith.” If those discussions are taking place at the University, they’re not reflected in Cavalier Daily coverage. There hadn’t been an article in the Cavalier Daily that referred to either Goldsmith or ecstasy or molly in more than a month before Hardesty’s article in the Health & Science section. It seems like an issue that slipped off the radar.
While the article did contain helpful information about ecstasy, it would have been more effective with a more University-specific angle. As I wrote last week, there is a depth and breadth of knowledge across many domains at the University and the writing in The Cavalier Daily is often better when that knowledge is drawn upon. In this article the only U.Va.-specific information came via a video from Student Health Director Chris Holstege, who is also the medical director of toxicology for the University Hospital. This article doesn’t seem to have been time-sensitive and could have been much more informative if there had been an actual interview with Holstege or someone else familiar with both the science and the realities at the University.
Digital vs. print
I wonder whether the constant presence of the digital platform for publishing rushes pieces to press. For something like the article on ecstasy, there is no particular reason it needs to be published at a particular time. It was published online on Oct. 15 and in the newsmagazine on Oct. 21. There was plenty of time to talk to Holstege or someone else at the University who could speak to the issue of ecstasy use on the part of students.
It has only been a couple of months since the shift from daily print publication to twice weekly and it will certainly take time to find a new balance. Judging what needs to be published immediately versus what can wait until it is as thorough as it can be is difficult. That said, The Cavalier Daily should lean toward waiting, conducting interviews and providing as comprehensive a set of information as is possible to give before moving to publish a piece. Reporting on a video instead of speaking with the person in question predefines the information that can be learned and doesn’t offer anything new to readers. A simple link would provide the same information.
Sometimes breaking news or news that is time-sensitive will require going to press with what is on hand in the moment. Then the charge is to build on that information and update the readers. When time allows, however, building the information should happen first.
Human Rights Commission
A bit of disclosure by way of a personal note: Lital Firestone wrote about the Human Rights Commission newly appointed by the Charlottesville City Council. I have been appointed to serve on that commission. I had no input on the article.
Christopher Broom is The Cavalier Daily’s public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter @CDPublicEditor.
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