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(04/07/09 4:00am)
Every newspaper suffers corrections.No matter how thorough the editing flawed information is going to find its way into print.Accordingly there are two obligations when it comes to accuracy:1.) Screw up as rarely as possible;2.) Make amends quickly when mistakes happen.On the first count the DTH deserves a little bit of slack.It's a teaching paper and that means that on any given day there are writers with wildly varying experience chasing sources and stories.As a result" the DTH bears an even greater responsibility to be forthcoming with corrections and apologies.One of the paper's more striking failures on that front came late last month.Running under the front-page headline ""Language programs cut"" a March 23rd article detailed the unexpected news that 10 degree programs were being eliminated"" in a round of budget cutting.Ph.D. candidate Cale LaSalata gave the DTH an incredulous quote" telling the paper" ""It just seems an impossibility"" and it came out of nowhere.""Truer words were never spoken.The next day"" the DTH produced another front-page story: ""Degrees to be joined"" not cut.""Those programs are being consolidated" not eliminated" which makes a big difference.This error was notable for a host of reasons: it was not a tiny detail but an entire article; it ran above the fold on the front page; and it scared the crap out of a lot of graduate students and faculty.But the most galling aspect of the whole mess was that the DTH never fully owned up to it. The follow-up article on March 24th detailed the confusion about the ""cut"" degree programs"" but never acknowledged the DTH's own role in creating that confusion.The only mention of the paper's culpability was a ""Clarification"" printed on page one"" noting that the previous day's story ""implies that courses offered through 10 UNC degree programs have been eliminated.""But the original story didn't imply anything; it flatly stated that programs were being eliminated.The distinction between a cut and a consolidation can be tough to discern in a complex budget meeting"" and a number of other media outlets ran incorrect bulletins about ""cut"" programs.But when an error makes it into the paper"" the only option is to acknowledge it and apologize.""In retrospect I think we made the wrong call" said DTH Editor-in-Chief Allison Nichols. I think we should have put a retraction in an editor's note in the second-day story" rather than a clarification.""While that kind of mea culpa can be embarrassing" it is critical if the DTH is to maintain credibility.For a writer there's no feeling worse than seeing yesterday's story rebuked in your own newspaper. It's like having your class essay hung on the wall covered in a professor's red ink.Yet for a paper that strives to serve readers while training the next generation of journalists corrections remain a regular concern.The most readers can ask is that the DTH come clean.
(02/04/09 5:00am)
With student body elections less than a week away DTH campaign coverage is kicking into high gear.Which means invariably that criticism of DTH campaign coverage will be kicking into high gear.The paper doesn't tread lightly with its election coverage and this year has been no exception.Candidates had scarcely been certified before the DTH was embroiled in a successful fight with the Board of Elections for prompt access to candidate petitions.Then the DTH scheduled a candidate forum for tonight" pushing back a previously planned BoUNCe forum. (""We are being shoved around"" wrote BoUNCe editor Sam Morgan in a letter to the editor.)And looming next week is the prospect of endorsements by the DTH editorial board. Every year on election day, the back page of the campus newspaper declares full-throated support for one candidate above all others.All of which leaves a great many readers asking: Does the DTH exercise outsized influence in student elections?University Editor Andrew Dunn said the DTH is basically the only source of election news.The Carolina Review in an editorial earlier this year called us the ‘de facto supreme authority' on campus. I kind of enjoyed that.""There's no way to measure the impact DTH coverage has on student voting" but it seems inarguable that the only daily paper covering the race will have some sway.The paper's editors know this (see Dunn above) and they take it seriously. That's why you have seen profiles of every candidate running in the same location on page three in alphabetical order.It's the reason you've seen very cautious summaries of candidate platforms in the paper" without much subjective analysis.""We've tried to focus on important issues"" said Allison Nichols, DTH editor-in-chief. As much as possible"" we let the candidates speak for themselves.""Still"" every article contains plenty of phrases for partisans to parse.Was it opinion to suggest that Ashley Klein's platform contains ""inconsistencies?"" Or to write that Matt Wohlford ""speaks like a well-edited English paper?""I don't think so. A little bit of colorful writing makes for better candidate profiles.Those endorsements that will run so prominently on election day are the product of lengthy candidate interviews by the editorial board. Although no reporters are involved in the board's discussions"" Nichols has been active in the endorsement process.""Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one"" wrote Ryan Thornburg, a professor in the School of Journalism, in response to an e-mailed question. If endorsements are the way that the DTH wants to use its freedom"" then it should have no hesitation about doing so.""Still" owning a press doesn't guarantee monopoly on public opinion.While the editorial board has backed the winner for the past four years it found itself on the losing side in 2002 2003 and 2004.No matter what runs in these pages" it will be the students who pick the winner next week. Even the ""de facto supreme authority"" has its limits.
(01/15/09 5:00am)
The hardest part of running a student newspaper is that students leave.No matter how dedicated no matter how talented every staff member at The Daily Tar Heel is gone after four or five years. Many are gone far sooner than that.As a result the folks writing about long-term complicated issues — tuition hikes enrollment growth" crime trends in Chapel Hill — generally have limited experience with the particular topic.""It's always challenging to find people who" in their four years cannot only learn enough about an issue but also develop the sources to report it and really dig at the heart of the matter" said 2006-07 DTH Editor-in-Chief Joseph Schwartz.That makes it all the more unfortunate that the paper finds itself without a fully formed Projects team going into the new semester. Projects co-editors Brendan Brown and Lindsey Naylor have quit the paper, citing disagreements with management and a desire to explore opportunities in public policy.Studying journalism and working at the DTH ultimately was an opportunity for us to learn a lot about the things that we're now interested in pursuing as a career"" said Naylor.The Projects desk, also known as the Investigative or I-Team, has existed at the DTH only since 2003. It was designed as a way to give experienced writers and editors the chance to work for long periods on important stories.DTH Editor-in-Chief Allison Nichols plans to sit down with other editors this week to map out a future for investigative work at the paper.It's crucial to The Daily Tar Heel's watchdog mission that we be making regular records requests to gain information we can't get from press releases or voluntary news tips"" Nichols wrote in response to e-mailed questions. The ideal investigative team should be fluid with the rest of the newsroom and should not be trying to protect sources or information from being used by all.""Most of the paper's investigative content last semester came from the daily news desks" and I hope that whatever new structure emerges for the Projects team involves collaboration across the newsroom.But a good Projects team should also have the independence to develop sources that are not necessarily available to the entire staff. At a paper where turnover naturally runs high and editors change on a yearly basis" a good Projects team should cultivate source relationships that can last years.It can be difficult for the daily news desks to create those kind of writer-source relationships for the simple reason that writers move on so quickly to new responsibilities.""The best writers become editors"" Brown said. It just gobbles up your time.""I hope Nichols and her staff will try to counteract that problem as they map out a new Projects team.Requests for records and data are certainly useful" and many solid investigative stories rely on unearthed documents and smartly crunched numbers.But it just as often comes down to the human touch" and that's something you can't get through the public records law.
(11/12/08 5:00am)
""UNC plans for cuts to funding.""That was a Daily Tar Heel headline on March 22" 2002. But it could just as easily have been last week. After several years of a booming state economy and generous funding increases for higher education lean times are back.And so are budget cut articles in the pages of the DTH.Budget stories are to reporters what annotated bibliographies are to history majors. They are complicated research-intensive and unexciting" and there's a big risk of getting the details wrong.They're also some of the most important articles in the paper.""Budgets can be intimidating for any reporter" wrote journalism professor Jan Johnson Yopp. To write about financial cutbacks" journalists have to understand the budget components and then where the cuts are being made.""That can be maddeningly difficult to figure out at a place like UNC" with a maze of different funding streams and a decentralized process for making cutbacks.A single department might receive a chunk of funding from the state a little from endowments and gifts" some from tuition and another portion from research grants. Simply saying that state funding was cut by 5 percent does nothing to show what actually happened in that department.""My goal is to take budget cuts — and the national economy in general — and show how students are affected"" wrote Andrew Dunn, DTH University editor. With the downturn still in its early stages, that's difficult. And there's a tendency to focus on raw numbers and broad official pronouncements.But the interesting part is in the details.Did you know that UNC uses salaries from empty faculty positions to pay for everything from light bills to graduate stipends?That means you can eliminate a half-dozen faculty positions without necessarily firing anyone, but some grad student in a research lab might have to take on thousands more in debt to make up for a lost stipend.How that affects her life — did she miss a trip home, is she eating more mac 'n' cheese? — is the true story of the budget cut. You can't get that from the raw numbers.Allison Nichols, DTH editor-in-chief, said she is committed to producing those kind of stories in the months ahead.Almost by necessity" I think a lot of it has to be anecdotal" Nichols said. We tend to focus on it in a more qualitative way.""It's still early"" but reporting on budget cuts so far has included some limited illustrations of tangible impact. In the Nov. 6 article ""Cuts force creative saving"" staff writer Brecken Branstrator reported that the economics department is cutting funding for visitors and speakers, and that the anthropology department has trimmed some recitations. But the article didn't say how many events might be cancelled, or how many students might be bumped from recitations.Unfortunately for the economy, there's likely to be plenty of opportunity for those kind of feature stories.These are extraordinary economic times" wrote Chancellor Holden Thorp in an e-mail to the entire campus last week. We're committed to getting through this rough period as smoothly as possible with your help" cooperation and patience. And we pledge to keep you informed.""Ditto for the budding number-crunchers at the DTH.
(10/30/08 4:00am)
As I write the familiar cadence of Barack Obama's voice is echoing through downtown Raleigh. The rally in Halifax Square is so loud you can hear it inside my office building several blocks away.And somewhere down there amid the throng is a Daily Tar Heel reporter.Nobody at the DTH expected to be attending presidential rallies this year. Neither did anyone at The (Raleigh) News & Observer The Greenville Daily Reflector or The Asheville Citizen-Times.But North Carolina is getting a hefty dose of national attention and that is driving a louder-than-average discussion of how this newspaper conducts its political coverage.EndorsementsThe DTH makes formal endorsements on its editorial page.Some readers will see this as evidence that the paper's news coverage has favored particular candidates all along but the news and editorial functions at the paper remain almost entirely separated.It's true that Editor-in-Chief Allison Nichols casts a vote on the editorial board" but the desk editors and staff writers who work day-to-day covering the campaigns and putting together voter guides have no role in the edit page endorsements. They read about them in the paper just like everyone else.The DTH and most of the state's major newspapers surprised a lot of folks by endorsing Republican Pat McCrory for governor.""I thought I was going to have to really fight for it"" said Opinion Co-Editor Harrison Jobe, who intended to make the case for McCrory. But the editorial board voted 7-to-1 for the Republican.If the board members endorse Obama, that will put them firmly in line with the great political paradox of North Carolina. After decades of voting for Republican presidents and Democratic governors, polls show a decent chance for a reversal.On-campus activitiesThis is where the paper is most vulnerable to the bias charge, because it's clear that Democratic candidates feature more prominently in stories about student activism.That's pretty much unavoidable, given how strongly UNC and Orange County lean toward the left.Three of the most prominent local politicians — State Reps. Verla Insko, Joe Hackney and Bill Faison, Democrats all — don't even have Republican challengers, and Young Democrats have been more active in voter registration drives and general mobilization than College Republicans.Even so, the DTH has made an effort to spotlight conservative activism. Staff writer Caroline Dye wrote Wednesday about the efforts of the UNC College Republicans to campaign beyond Orange County. We're not doing less" we're simply less visible on campus" acknowledged Jason Sutton, political chair of UNC College Republicans.Inevitably, less visibility on campus means less visibility in the campus newspaper. (Full disclosure: I'm a registered Republican, and I'll be casting my ballot in Wake County).Covering campaign eventsThe DTH has long been criticized as a bastion of liberalism, but the overriding bias the paper brings to its coverage of state and national candidates is not political or ideological: it's geographic.When campaign events are near enough that we can go there" then we go there" said State & National Editor Ariel Zirulnick.But it's tough to cover distant events on weekdays in the middle of classes.""The DTH does not pay staff writers" and while this has been a marvelous business model it means that editors cannot order someone to drive six hours to attend a candidate speech. Writers must be cajoled and class schedules must be accommodated.That's why the Obama rally in Raleigh was covered but an Obama rally in Asheville was not. A Palin speech in Greenville was covered but a McCain speech in Wilmington was not.On the whole the comings and goings of the campaigns have been treated with an even hand. It's unfortunate that the DTH doesn't have the resources for in-depth coverage on all of the down-ticket races such as judges insurance commissioner attorney general etc." but even The N&O; has cut back in covering the down-ballot contests.""It's not ideal"" said News & Observer Executive Editor John Drescher, speaking to DTH editors earlier this month. There simply isn't a whole lot of voter interest in those races.""One change that the DTH will be making for future elections is more intensive candidate coverage long before Election Day. The popularity of early voting has caught many newspapers by surprise" so expect earlier endorsements and voter guides in the future.In the meantime enjoy all the national attention. North Carolina won't be this popular again until basketball season is in full swing.
(10/29/08 4:00am)
As I write the familiar cadence of Barack Obama's voice is echoing through downtown Raleigh. The rally in Halifax Square is so loud you can hear it inside my office building several blocks away.And somewhere down there amid the throng is a Daily Tar Heel reporter.Nobody at the DTH expected to be attending presidential rallies this year. Neither did anyone at The (Raleigh) News & Observer The Greenville Daily Reflector or The Asheville Citizen-Times.But North Carolina is getting a hefty dose of national attention and that is driving a louder-than-average discussion of how this newspaper conducts its political coverage.EndorsementsThe DTH makes formal endorsements on its editorial page.Some readers will see this as evidence that the paper's news coverage has favored particular candidates all along but the news and editorial functions at the paper remain almost entirely separated.It's true that Editor-in-Chief Allison Nichols casts a vote on the editorial board" but the desk editors and staff writers who work day-to-day covering the campaigns and putting together voter guides have no role in the edit page endorsements. They read about them in the paper just like everyone else.The DTH and most of the state's major newspapers surprised a lot of folks by endorsing Republican Pat McCrory for governor.""I thought I was going to have to really fight for it"" said Opinion Co-Editor Harrison Jobe, who intended to make the case for McCrory. But the editorial board voted 7-to-1 for the Republican.If the board members endorse Obama, that will put them firmly in line with the great political paradox of North Carolina. After decades of voting for Republican presidents and Democratic governors, polls show a decent chance for a reversal.On-campus activitiesThis is where the paper is most vulnerable to the bias charge, because it's clear that Democratic candidates feature more prominently in stories about student activism.That's pretty much unavoidable, given how strongly UNC and Orange County lean toward the left.Three of the most prominent local politicians — State Reps. Verla Insko, Joe Hackney and Bill Faison, Democrats all — don't even have Republican challengers, and Young Democrats have been more active in voter registration drives and general mobilization than College Republicans.Even so, the DTH has made an effort to spotlight conservative activism. Staff writer Caroline Dye wrote Wednesday about the efforts of the UNC College Republicans to campaign beyond Orange County. We're not doing less" we're simply less visible on campus" acknowledged Jason Sutton, political chair of UNC College Republicans.Inevitably, less visibility on campus means less visibility in the campus newspaper. (Full disclosure: I'm a registered Republican, and I'll be casting my ballot in Wake County).Covering campaign eventsThe DTH has long been criticized as a bastion of liberalism, but the overriding bias the paper brings to its coverage of state and national candidates is not political or ideological: it's geographic.When campaign events are near enough that we can go there" then we go there" said State & National Editor Ariel Zirulnick.But it's tough to cover distant events on weekdays in the middle of classes.""The DTH does not pay staff writers" and while this has been a marvelous business model it means that editors cannot order someone to drive six hours to attend a candidate speech. Writers must be cajoled and class schedules must be accommodated.That's why the Obama rally in Raleigh was covered but an Obama rally in Asheville was not. A Palin speech in Greenville was covered but a McCain speech in Wilmington was not.On the whole the comings and goings of the campaigns have been treated with an even hand. It's unfortunate that the DTH doesn't have the resources for in-depth coverage on all of the down-ticket races such as judges insurance commissioner attorney general etc." but even The N&O; has cut back in covering the down-ballot contests.""It's not ideal"" said News & Observer Executive Editor John Drescher, speaking to DTH editors earlier this month. There simply isn't a whole lot of voter interest in those races.""One change that the DTH will be making for future elections is more intensive candidate coverage long before Election Day. The popularity of early voting has caught many newspapers by surprise" so expect earlier endorsements and voter guides in the future.In the meantime enjoy all the national attention. North Carolina won't be this popular again until basketball season is in full swing.
(09/16/08 4:00am)
Like any halfway decent media critic I'm obliged to call out this esteemed paper for its accomplishments as well as its shortcomings. And The Daily Tar Heel deserves some accolades for its coverage so far of the Halloween debate.When the paper first reported plans to curtail this year's Halloween festivities" the front-page article included some rather blunt statements from Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy.""It's a local party"" the mayor said, before going on to explicitly uninvite the rest of the state.In case there was any ambiguity, Foy later told the (Raleigh) News & Observer that, if you're not a student at Carolina or a resident of the town"" you need to find something else to do on Halloween.""Those comments seemed to carry an implicit suggestion that all of Chapel Hill's Halloween woes are imported.It's the closest a public official has come to stating the suspicion — shared by many town residents — that a lot of our crime comes from … you know"" ""outside.""Those first articles made no real effort to delve into that troubling subtext" as I thought they should and I got all geared up to write a nasty column about cowardly newspaper reporters failing to ask the tough questions.I'm glad I waited.Last Wednesday the DTH put forward a beautiful piece of analysis showing exactly where all of the alleged Halloween criminals come from. Based on a massive public record request by City Editor Max Rose the story incorporated seven years of police data on Halloween arrests.Turns out all of those out-of-town hellions have plenty of local company when it comes to costumed law-breaking. Fully 35 percent of those arrested at the party in the last seven years had Chapel Hill addresses" a figure that doesn't account for on-campus students who might have given their parents' home address.There's also no discernible concentration of violent crime among nonresident revelers.""We felt there were a lot of unjustified rumors floating around about where the trouble comes from"" said Evan Rose, the reporter who wrote last week's story. There's this misperception that it must be people coming from the outside.""Faced with that perception" the DTH did exactly what a diligent newspaper should. Editors and reporters avoided any sensationalist writing and patiently gathered the raw data" adding real value to an ongoing public discussion.""People can make their own judgments based on the numbers we had in that article and the statements from town officials and police"" Max Rose said.I hope DTH editors follow up in the next few weeks with an examination of how town residents, particularly those near downtown, feel about Halloween. It's worth exploring why this perception of outsider crime is so powerful, and I'm sure reporters could uncover plenty of revealing stories from frustrated town residents.(I, for instance, left my apartment on Halloween last year to find two guys urinating on either side of my car. As I waited patiently for them to finish, the gentleman on the driver's side looked up and said, Hey man"" just use another tire."" This did not make me feel especially hospitable toward Halloween guests).Crime is one of the most difficult issues for any newspaper to get right" and the DTH faces a particularly tough challenge as Chapel Hill grapples with a very high-profile murder case and a string of gang-related shootings in recent years.Striking the right balance between legitimate concern and dangerous sensationalism is tricky.Barbara Friedman a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication" described in an e-mail why there is a special obligation to take an even-handed approach in reporting crime or public disorder.""When trouble occurs — a horrendous crime" for example — the knee-jerk reaction is to encircle the community and blame it on outsiders Friedman wrote.It is this newspaper's job to make sure that the knee-jerk reaction is not the final word.The paper should address the suspicion" Friedman wrote, but prove or disprove it with facts and statistics that can be verified.""It's still early for this year's staff" but already the DTH is off to a promising start.