Behind the Desk

We want you to know exactly where your news is coming from, so behind the desk will be an inside look at what goes in the DT newsroom. Each week a different editor will give you the inside scoop on something they want our readers to know.

Brimming with (Daily) Trojan pride


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For a recent “day in the life” video, our multimedia director asked me how I would describe my job, suggesting I say something about being the leader. Instead I told her I was a shepherd herding cats. Those of you who pick up the Daily Trojan each morning — or even just once in awhile […]

Serious Matters: Your vs. You’re


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The nice thing about social media spats is that you can instantly tell whether the person you’re arguing is actually worth your time based on their grammar skills. There are many classic simple errors that are instant tip offs, but none bigger than your vs. you’re. One of them is a possessive pronoun. The other […]

Editorial board, boy bands and other musings


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As the cliché goes, if you love what you do, you won’t work a day in your life. I’m not sure who to credit this grand cliché to, but I’m going on record to state that whoever they are, they are unabashedly lying to your face. Nothing quite parallels my deep, profound and — according […]

To Oxford comma or not to Oxford comma?


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The Oxford comma is one of the many paradoxes of the English language. We were taught to put a comma before “and” in a list of three or more ideas, and since then, we have unquestioningly followed this rule. Journalism is different, though. We don’t use the Oxford comma; we believe that the “and” is […]

Features: What actually happens behind the scenes


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It’s around 5 p.m. on a Thursday night, and there are powerful voices blaring through a microphone speaker echoing through McCarthy Quad. Several workers’ union protesters are aligned in a circle urging passersby to acknowledge their need for higher compensation. While several students stop to join the crowd, others simply laugh, snapchatting or taking photos […]

News: Headlines and deadlines


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On a whiteboard behind my desk in the Daily Trojan newsroom, there are tally marks indicating the number of corrections we’ve printed in the DT this semester: currently 11. Each one pains me, as though the marks were written with Professor Umbridge’s special quill, but they serve as a constant reminder of one of the […]

Hanging by a thread


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When I think of dangling modifiers. I think of a mountain climber on a cliff. His gloved hands grasp loosely on the crude rocks above him. His feet keep him hoisted and stable. But only for now. At any moment, any slip of the hand or cracking rock could send him plummeting down into the […]