The value of keeping us accountable
It’s been a busy semester, although hectic might be a more appropriate word.
Quite frankly, much of what we cover at the Daily Trojan can be fairly routine. We’re a hyper-local publication that focuses on the USC community; as a result, we don’t always have the sexiest storylines. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day, to just keep feeding the beast we call the print news cycle.
This semester had the DT staff busy, though. There was the unfortunate Halloween shooting; there was the 2012 election, in which President Barack Obama secured a second term; there was the DT’s 100th anniversary; there were the football games, which featured everything from deflated footballs to deflated championship hopes to record-breaking performances; there was the men’s water polo’s fifth straight NCAA championship; and of course, between the highlights and lowlights, there was a flurry of slow news days.
In my first editorial, at the beginning of the semester, I wrote about USC’s community garden, about how it was our goal here at the DT to cover everything USC-related to the best of our abilities, so we could do you — the students, parents faculty, staff and alumni — justice.
We’ve always tried to do direct reporting and be on top of the news, but, as with everything, we had hurdles to overcome. I’m sure we printed some things you didn’t like. Maybe we were slow to the punch. But at the end of the semester, I can proudly say we worked our hardest to support and inform the USC community.
The DT staffers were the dedicated editors, photographers, designers and reporters on campus this semester. We had something to say, and, consequently, something for you to read. We did our best to keep you in the USC loop, to facilitate discussion on campus, to keep you updated on social media with live updates — and we even managed to pen some sexy storylines.
The DT will always be the sounding board for the USC community, no matter who’s on staff and no matter who’s in charge — which brings me to my next point.
As is tradition, the DT will be changing its editorial board and staff at the close of the semester — this includes every position from news editor to editor in chief.
Eddie Kim, who many of you might already be familiar with through his writing or his participation on staff, has been elected by the DT staff to be the spring 2013 editor in chief. And Thursday afternoon, the student media board will hold a formal meeting to review and appoint the editor-elect.
Eddie has written for the DT since he was a freshman at Annenberg. And not only is he one of my best friends, he’s one of my brightest and most talented colleagues. I have absolute faith he will lead his team of editors to a successful semester of USC news coverage.
The next print edition is scheduled for Jan. 15, and in the meantime, important developments will be posted on the DT’s website and broadcast through social media.
With that being said, continue to hold the DT accountable. Keep the conversation going, because, as the university’s newspaper, we depend on you, our readers.
To the USC community members that direct messaged us on Twitter, messaged us on Facebook and dropped by the newsroom, please keep doing so. Whether it’s story ideas, questions or complaints, you keep us going.
We’ve been doing this for 100 years, one semester — and counting. And I can tell you we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Editor in Chief Sean Fitz-Gerald is a senior majoring in English.