Letter from the editor: The New Stanford Daily

Opinion by Edward Ngai
Sept. 16, 2013, 10:05 p.m.

Journalism is a field that is changing every day. This summer, The Daily has been hard at work charting out a vision for a sharp, dynamic media company.

As the Stanford football team heads into perhaps its most anticipated season ever, The Daily will be right with them, following the national champion-hopeful Cardinal at every game and behind the scenes.

Last month, The Daily football staff published “Rags to Roses: The Rise of Stanford Football,” an insider account of Stanford’s ascent to the game’s elite. This fall, we will expand our football coverage with roundtable discussions, weekly features and collaboration with other Pac-12 newspapers along with pre- and post-game reports. As usual, The Daily will be at every game live-blogging and tweeting from our sports Twitter account.

In a constantly evolving college media landscape, The Daily is also changing the way our work is packaged. Starting on Sept. 27, The Daily will print a tabloid Weekender bringing together the best of our journalism. Every Friday, The Weekender turns the spotlight on one campus issue and combines our coverage with expanded sports, opinions and a re-imagined arts section. The tabloid format also gives us the much-needed flexibility to showcase our media section: student work in photo, video and graphics. For the first time, we’ve planned thematic special issues showcasing the best of Stanford, from the innovation of our tech scene to the best of local dining.

I’m grateful to all of The Daily’s friends and editors, past and present, that have helped bring these ideas to life. Journalism has changed a lot since the first Daily Palo Alto was dropped off in 1891, but so has The Daily. While we have progressed only modestly this summer, I hope our work results in a paper that is more incisive, careful and entertaining.

In his letter to the student body 110 years ago, Editor in Chief O. A. Wilson ’04 described the role of the student newspaper. “First, it must print all the news pertaining to the University,” he wrote, “and second, it should be the organ of the student body, representing their opinions on all questions that may arise.” The Daily has too often focused on the former at some expense to the latter; this year we aim to produce content that is keenly in tune with campus life.

It is an honor to be able to represent this student body, no matter how tangentially. I hope we can do you proud.

Thank you for reading,

Edward Ngai

President and editor in chief, Vol. CCXLIV

Edward Ngai is a senior staff writer at The Stanford Daily. Previously, he has worked as a news desk editor, staff development editor and columnist. He was president and editor-in-chief of The Daily for Vol. 244 (2013-2014). Edward is a junior from Vancouver, Canada studying political science. This summer, he is the Daniel Pearl Memorial Intern at the Wall Street Journal.

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