Not just news
I’ve spent the majority of my time and space here focused on news reporting and news-oriented opinion pieces with the occasional assessment of the various platforms in which The Cavalier Daily publishes. Those are the pieces in The Cavalier Daily that garner the most reaction from readers and about which I receive the occasional email. I have, however, also read almost everything the paper offers. By doing so, it is possible to get a sense of life at the University — albeit one filtered through a relatively small set of writers and editors. But it is clear the various writers and editors that work for The Cavalier Daily do not all share the same interests or viewpoints, and so I think the whole of the paper, over time, probably offers a reasonable image of what it is to be a student at the University of Virginia.
Getting personal
One of the more interesting things to me as I’ve read The Cavalier Daily over the last few months is the level of personal writing to be found. From Mimi Montgomery’s recent piece on the meaning and value of home to Olivia Beavers’ musings on technology in general and Facebook specifically, student writers are working out their own decisions and feelings in personal ways that seem to me likely to resonate with other students, at least. There are also pieces that are just fun to read. ““The turkeys are coming”:http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2013/11/the-turkeys-are-coming” by Katherine Colver brought me a couple of laugh-out-loud moments. It’s also poignant in parts, which is a good combination.
The willingness of The Cavalier Daily’s writers to explore their thoughts and feelings gives context and texture to the rest of the information available. It’s also one of the things that distinguishes a college newspaper from other publications. While there are, at times, somewhat similar pieces in something like the New York Times magazine, they aren’t rooted in the same place the way the columns from U.Va. students are. The writing in The Cavalier Daily starts from more common ground, and that makes it compelling as a window into student life.
Searching for romance
I have to admit that I cringed a bit the first time I saw a Love Connection piece in The Cavalier Daily. It seemed like it could be nothing but a train wreck, which I supposed was perhaps the point. Who looks away from such a thing? It has, however, been full of people who appear earnest and forthright about the whole affair. I’ve enjoyed reading the interviews with the daters and just about all of them have reported having had a good time. Like the personal writing I noted above, it also seems to offer a window on student life in a way that I’d expect that vast majority of students can relate to. It’s a fun weekly read.
Better links
I’ve noticed many more links lately mostly in opinion columns in the online version of The Cavalier Daily. This is a good development. Using hyperlinks to allow readers to further explore topics and, more importantly, assess the background information and sources for themselves makes for a more informative piece.
That said, the quality of those sources is incredibly important. I spent some time clicking through many of the links and while most point to reputable news sources or something very specific like a company website, others leave much to be desired. To choose one example: Jared Fogel in “One is not the loneliest number” linked extensively to a piece in an online publication called “The World Outline.” There is a tremendous amount of material on the website and it is unclear to me whether it is intended as a news source or as an outlet for opinion writing. Further, the piece Fogel linked to is not itself well-sourced. This is precisely why offering the links is important. Readers can judge the evidence for themselves. Hopefully consistent linking will also cause the writers to be more careful with their sources.
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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