Public Editor
Comments on the 3/11/09 issue of the UMD Statesman
Chris Julin is back in the Public Editor chair this week.
It's a somewhat diminutive issue this week, as we head into spring break – 24 pages – but there was a lot that I enjoyed reading. I think there was more real news in the news section than I've read in some entire 32-page editions of the Statesman. On the front page, the four refers include two hard news stories, a big sports story, and a nice enterprise feature. That's a good mix.
The budget
I'm glad to see the budget getting attention in the paper. It's difficult to report on because no one seems to know what's actually going to happen. There aren't many details available yet. But the paper offers several intriguing takes on UMD's budget woes this week.
Eric Ludy's story about department "clustering" in CLA is well done. It takes a tale of bureaucratic reshuffling and applies it to students. It gives us a peek at some of the human consequences of a difficult administrative decision. Students might ask, How's this going to affect us? Eric finds some students who have ideas about that.
I'm interested in the choice to focus only on Women's Studies. At least half a dozen departments in CLA will be affected by the clustering strategy.
We also get a nice story from Jolissa Doornink about the chancellor's proposal to save $250,000 by conserving energy at UMD. I'm willing to bet that the Statesman could offer at least one story about the budget crisis – and its real-world effects – in every issue for the rest of this semester. It's a genuine service to readers when you give them digestible stories about a huge issue that seems overwhelming and impossible to comprehend.
Favorite lead
Ben Johnson used this lead to open his story about the new policy limiting beer sales to club rooms and expensive suites at UMD hockey games:
Those who would enjoy a cold beer while watching a game at the new DECC in 2010 better get their wallets out.
It seems to me that everyone needs to pull out their wallets for beer unless the beer is free, but still, this lead is clever and it pulls me in. And in the next paragraph Ben lays out the new policy plainly. Very effective.
I have to say this about the leads in general. They're so much better than they were earlier in the year. The Statesman staff has done a swell job. The Public Editor has made a stink about leads several times this school year, and it's fair to note that there's been a big improvement. They're not all award winners, of course, but the paper has moved beyond the dreaded topic lead: Thursday night 200 people gathered at a meeting in Bohannon Hall to talk about trees.
Quote of the week
Brianna Dehnke delivers this wonderfully concise and colorful quote from Jane Dolter, who works with the University for Seniors program:
"Don't be afraid of old people," she said.
Like the briefs
The campus news briefs are a great touch. There's so much going on at a school the size of UMD, and not all happenings merit 800 words. A paragraph will often do. A column of briefs allows the paper to keep readers alerted to a broad range of news with minimal space and effort.
Superficially – but significantly – it makes the paper appear on top of things. Substantially, it gives readers a heads-up about some of what's going on at this big and busy place. I don't propose reducing the Statesman to one-paragraph new coverage, but I do think the paper could fill an entire page with briefs each week if the lay out was clear and easy to read.
Have a safe and refreshing spring break.
-Chris Julin