The 111th: This week was the last official week of the 111th Managing Board of The Cavalier Daily. While they will remain listed in the staff box for one more week, it will actually be the 112th Board at the helm, with the 111th facilitating the transition. To the 111th - Tom Bednar, Brian Haluska, Lindsay Wise, John Clark and Michael Gillespie - let me say this: thank you. It has been a privilege to serve as the ombudsman for such an exceptional paper. You have shown yourselves to be professionals, and you have worked harder than anyone should ever be expected to work. You have been decent and ethical, which puts you ahead and above much of that which currently passes for journalism. You deserve to feel proud of your job well done, and I hope that you do.
The 112th: Welcome aboard, and please allow me to offer some unsolicited advice. You will have all the guidance you need from the outgoing Board to produce a newspaper, but as someone with a more removed perspective, I hope to add a few things which might otherwise go unsaid in the hurdy-gurdy of transition.
First, be confident. As it is part of my job to criticize this paper, I can say with certainty that the vast majority of the work of this paper is excellent. You have the good fortune of working with a very talented staff. The staff has already shown their confidence in you - they elected you. You can feel confident in them in return.
Second, be fearless. As you get bogged down in production crises, try to remember why it is that journalism and a free press matter. You exist to shine a light, to bring information to the public that affects their lives. Some people may not always want that information brought to the public's attention. Pursue stories that matter, and don't be bullied off of a story by a member of the University community or by anyone else.
Third, be professional. Always strive for the highest standards of behavior and quality. Don't be afraid to pull a story or column that doesn't meet your expectations. It is better to run a full page Public Service Announcement than to run a second-rate piece of junk. The need to fill column inches can powerfully erode standards - try not to let that happen.
Fourth, listen to your readers. You publish a paper for an educated, informed, motivated and opinionated readership. The readers often have very good suggestions. Additionally, they will catch most factual errors that editors don't, so be forewarned.
Fifth, and last for now, don't hesitate to carry a little water. Develop a bank of stories, strips and columns that are not highly time sensitive, and that can run when a piece fails to show up, needs to be pulled for editorial reasons or is of too poor a quality to run. Used car salesmen refer to standing inventory as "water on the lot." Don't be afraid to ask the staff to have a little "water" on hand. Larger newspapers routinely bank stories. As for staff that balk a little at the extra work, you can assure them the overwhelming likelihood is that, sooner or later, it will all run.
This Week's Paper: This week's paper was very good. It was a start-up after a long hiatus, but it included lots of lengthy stories, good spread of coverage and generally high quality work. There was no slow return to production, but rather full speed out of the gate instead. Particularly strong was the Business page on Monday with a thought-provoking piece by Alex Rothenberg on the potential for a recession ("Is a nasty recession in sight?" Jan. 22), and an interesting and original piece on the language of business by Diya Gullapalli ("Financial jargon pervades all streets, not just Wall Street," Jan. 22).
Particularly disheartening was to see a Sketchy strip repeated already in this first week back.
Last week, I commented on some recurring problems regarding Opinion pieces. This week, two opinion pieces in particular are worth examining. Kelly Sarabyn's Jan. 24 column, "A return to civic responsibility," suffers from a not uncommon problem - breadth of scope. Even if a writer wants to build a logical and reasoned argument in his or her Opinion piece, he or she must keep in mind the limitations of form. Most Opinion pieces are relatively short, not 10,000-plus word Atlantic Monthly pieces. Ms. Sarabyn took too large a bite this go-around - her scope of topic was just too wide for reasoned discourse in such a short format. There were clearly attempts to construct an argument, but she is forced by her choice into generalizations and sweeping statements. She would have been better served to simply pick a few examples, or even just a single example, and to expand on it fully. Opinion pieces, unlike traditional reportage, are more like essays. Look to the work of essayists like Montaigne, Joseph Epstein, Joseph Brodsky and George Will for examples - you start with the small item and either explore it fully, or work your way up and out to the larger topic.
Also, Luke Ryan's Jan. 23 piece on the separation of church and state, "Podium should not be pulpit," suffers as it begins on a flawed introductory premise. His shock at the quoting of biblical scripture by President Bush in his inaugural address leads an informed reader to believe that Ryan must have never listened to a presidential inaugural address before. President Clinton quoted scripture in his first inaugural address and quoted Cardinal Bernadin in his second. Modernly, while certainly not always, presidents have referred to their God, the Bible or both in their inaugural addresses. A partial list includes Eisenhower, who prayed aloud during his inaugural address; Kennedy; Carter; and George Bush, who also prayed aloud. There are many good concerns to be raised about the separation of church and state in the current age, but a simple fact check would have strengthened Mr. Ryan's piece considerably.
(Brent Garland can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com)
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