Instead of a mission statement, it would be more helpful if an organization were to articulate the goals it would not be able to achieve. The Cavalier Daily is aware of the challenges facing "student journalism," a phrase which, like all self-definitions, informs our expectations even while delimiting them. Picking up new positions, as well as the issues left on our doorstep, the trajectory of the current term consists in overcoming such limitations, beginning by acknowledging what those are exactly.
The limits in space are the boundaries we have previously set for ourselves on Grounds. Given a largely undergraduate staff, a College of Arts and Sciences-centric view of newspaper distribution is understandable, but not tenable if we hope for a readership among the greater University and Charlottesville communities. This newspaper includes material whose implications are far-reaching, with a range of content - often going places that no one else covers - such that the scope of what appears in our pages should be matched by the spread of the pages themselves.
There are limits in that other area, what William Gibson first termed cyberspace. Our website, as it currently stands, does so like a person conspicuously hiding behind the front of a newspaper. As former Editor-in-Chief Jason Ally noted, a modern newspaper should be a representation of a day's worth of online content, not the opposite. Videos, picture galleries, blogs and stories exclusively available online; all of these, plus tweets, are part of our semester blueprint for expansion.
There are also limits in time. The Cavalier Daily is a newspaper produced in the night, covering events that happened earlier in the day for publication on the morrow. Currently, readers interested in catching up on a story will have to wait until the next morning to do so. All of this leads to a sense of belatedness; of news articles composed mainly in the past tense. This will change as we begin uploading content throughout the day, with updates of stories when applicable. We have done so in times past, but do not think it should take a crisis for us to provide timely content.
The implementation of these changes is not only the project of the current staff, but also that of the staff and Managing Board prior. Their foresight overlooks this current vision, and, for training us, for leading us - indeed, for having us - we give our thanks to them as they did to their predecessors: by moving forward as best we can without them.
Of course, not all these limits can be addressed in one or however many terms. There are limits inherent to coverage of the University, of what all may happen here during a business day, as well as the limits that lie at the end of most college functions at night.
But most of these limits have been our own creation. Kant said, "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity." Starting this morning, come see how much The Cavalier Daily might grow.
Read More
PARTING SHOT: On the art of walking and chewing gum
By Nathan Onibudo | YesterdayStudent journalism, and maybe even life more generally, is about holding space for multiple conflicting truths.
PARTING SHOT: Confessions of a nepo baby
By Grace Thrush | YesterdayWhile I can’t point to one specific “aha” moment where I finally started to dispel my self-consciousness and claim my pride for the paper, I got there gradually over the course of my term as managing editor.
PARTING SHOT: Asked and answered
By Honor Wood | 2 days agoLooking back, the answer has been abundantly clear all along. I did it for the people.
