In my first column a few weeks ago I wrote that the digital-first platform with a twice-weekly print news magazine represented both an opportunity and a danger for The Cavalier Daily. One opportunity I noted, especially in the form of the newsmagazine, is for longer-form journalism. When I saw the headline this past week, “George Martin: An inside look at the University Rector,” I thought this was the perfect place for the longer form to be used to an advantage. I was disappointed to find a fairly short article of only about 600 words. For comparison, “the good and interesting piece “:http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2013/09/cornering-the-market“Cornering the market” on the Corner’s younger business owners ran nearly 900 words. I didn’t feel that I learned much about George Martin reading the article. Perhaps it was more an issue of expectations from the headline than anything else, but all I really took from it was that he loves the University and found his time here important in his life.
A true profile of the Board of Visitors’ new rector would be most welcome, especially in light of the events involving the Board last year. Students, faculty and alumni remain — according to a few Facebook pages, active Twitter accounts and comments on various Cavalier Daily articles — extremely interested in the Board of Visitors. Further, Martin is an historic figure as the University’s first African-American rector.
The newsmagazine seems the ideal place for such an article.
For an example of the newsmagazine format being used to an advantage, read the front-page story of the Sept. 12 print edition, “Part 1: The Decision,” which offers an in-depth look at U.Va. football recruiting and three friends who decided to come play at Virginia. The extra space is used for several photographs and much more space is devoted to the story. Since it appears I’m following word counts this week, Part 1 is just over 1,000 words.
Reading the comments
While one mantra of many who write online is “never read the comments,” it’s a part of my responsibility in this role to try and represent The Cavalier Daily’s readers. And so I read the comments. Something I’ve noticed is that several readers appear to ascribe motivations to the writers of articles when they think something is missing. One commenter wrote that it was “curious” that a particular meeting was not covered in the article “Virginia faculty advocate for LGBT partner state benefits.”
We all have our interests and, more importantly, our knowledge of the things that interest us and are important to us. I urge readers to make sure that The Cavalier Daily staff knows about the things that are important to you. They are not, as it stands, going to be aware of every meeting or every event affiliated with the University. On the University public events calendar, I counted about 50 events this week. That is a fraction of what occurs in and around the University each week.
If you feel there is something important, I suggest reaching out to the various press outlets you hope will cover the meeting or event. They may not choose to cover it, but it will get some consideration that might not happen otherwise simply because they might not know the meeting is taking place to begin with.
Digital advantages
A last note: in the same article about same-sex partner benefits, there are references to a Washington post article but no link. The digital platform would be well-served by linking, where possible, to source material. It would make The Cavalier Daily that much more robust and offer more depth and additional context for readers.
Christopher Broom is The Cavalier Daily’s public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@cavalierdaily.com or on Twitter at @CDPublicEditor.
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