COLLEGE reporters rarelyget the opportunity to cover national events on the scene, instead settling for getting student reaction on campus.
Associate News Editor Shannon Sturcken, however, took advantage of being in New York as a media intern during the Republican National Convention to write an article for the Sept. 3 issue. Sturcken put together a well-written article with interesting details and colorful descriptions about the protests that occurred in the city earlier in the week. She even took two good photographs to go with the story. But a small part of me cringed as I read the article because I saw the word "I" in several paragraphs.
Journalists are taught early in their training not to write news articles from a first-person perspective; that's supposed to be reserved for the Opinion page. Journalists sacrifice the theoretical objectivity they strive for by using pronouns like "I" and "me" in a news article. These words also tend to shift the focus of an article from the events being covered to the reporter.
I would not like to see The Cavalier Daily's news writers adopt this approach on a regular basis, but it's forgivable in this case. The editor's note at the beginning of the article explained Sturcken's reason for being in New York, which gave her a perspective on the protests that was unique compared to nearly every University student. The label "First-Hand Source" that was placed over one of her photographs further distinguished the story from a regular news article.
Again, I don't think the News staff should normally take this approach, but Sturcken's writing, her unique perspective on the events and the way the article was labeled on the front page made it work.
Speaking of the Republican National Convention, The Cavalier Daily's columnists had much to say about it this week. I'm pleased to see so much discussion in this newspaper about the political situation in the United States less than two months before Election Day. I can think of no better forum on a university campus for thinking about and debating politics than the Opinion page of the student newspaper.
I quickly noticed a wide range of political perspectives among the columnists. That diversity of opinions is a plus, but the conservative columnists all seem to write on the same days, as do the liberal columnists.
The Cavalier Daily could benefit from distributing like-minded columnists more evenly during the week. I prefer to read two columnists with different perspectives on the same day rather than get a full dose of one political ideology on Tuesday and wait until Thursday to read the other side's argument.
The newspaper's columnists obviously have class schedules to worry about, so shifting the days on which they write may not be possible at this point in the semester. But one or two changes could make the Opinion page more balanced from day to day.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm sure the majority of The Cavalier Daily's readership gets the print edition on campus. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury, so I'm becoming quite familiar with the newspaper's recently redesigned Web site.
The Online staff should be commended for creating a functional Web site that is relatively easy to navigate, especially compared to some professional newspapers. The featured articles in each section are displayed prominently with accompanying photographs or artwork in the middle of the screen. Other headlines for that day's newspaper are listed to the right by section.
The menu to the left allows visitors to conveniently browse through older editions of the paper or return to that day's news. The editors improved the advanced article search and added an image search for people interested in finding photographs. In addition, contact information is easy to find on the menu.
I was particularly impressed to see that some of the columns are being posted with links to related Web sites. I wouldn't mind seeing that feature added to some of the news stories.
I have heard one or two concerns about the new design. The mother of an Engineering student told me she would like to see a link added that allows readers to e-mail articles directly to other people. I read a letter to the editor in which a student asked for a little more pizzazz in the design. And I'm personally frustrated when I open a news site and immediately see a feature photo on my computer screen rather than the top news story of the day.
These small issues aside, the Online staff should be proud of its hard work.
Jeremy Ashton can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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