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Skiff
lacks student response, controversy I am a copy editor for the TCU Daily Skiff. It almost sounds like an important position. I get a lot of, “Oh you’re an editor!” from my friends. Well, my title may say editor, but it’s pretty clear that the only thing I am editor of is the newsprint itself. It’s unbelievably exciting. I get to watch for misspelled words and try to keep commas where they belong. So when you complain about how the Skiff didn’t spell something right, you could probably blame that on one of the copy editors, such as myself. But stop to think about how many misspellings and punctuation errors we already cleaned up out of the story. We make mistakes too. I have read more Skiff stories this year than probably 99 percent of the student body, and to be honest, most of them are just plain boring. Not to be critical of anyone’s opinions, but how many columns have you read that actually have something new to say about the parking situation? Through the dozens of parking stories this year, I have learned basically two things for sure about parking. One, it’s probably not going to get any better any time soon. Two, you might as well leave early and wear some walking shoes. Now this may be sounding like the bitter guy who sits behind a computer and reads stories thinking he could write one so much better, but all I’m asking for is for someone to start some controversy or write about something new and innovative. Earlier this week, we actually had two columnists hashing it out over Constitutional matters, and even though I wasn’t terribly interested in their references to specific Supreme Court cases, I was ecstatic to see they were actually discussing something out of the ordinary, and in a relatively dignified manner at that. The Skiff has gotten even fewer letters this semester than I’ve ever noticed in the past. The funny thing is, almost everyone has an opinion about some issue in the Skiff over the course of a week. Why not write and let them know what you think? Start up an argument, or even an all-out brawl if you prefer. Do you think the Skiff is anti-Greek or anti-Student Government Association? Write a column or article that talks about your organization or what it is doing right now that is noteworthy. I can’t guarantee it will get printed, but many of the editors would most likely be more than glad to have an influx of articles coming in. The worst they can do is tell you they can’t or won’t print it, and then you can feel free to say the Skiff is anti-your organization. The editors and reporters who work at the Skiff are incredibly busy. They spend more hours working on stories and the design of the paper than anyone cares to know. Maybe if we had some controversies on campus with people speaking out about them, their jobs would be a little more interesting. They wouldn’t have to scrounge up stories about how SuperFrog had a freckle added to the left arm of his suit or how The Main will now be offering both creamy and home-style ranch dressing. The Skiff is TCU’s newspaper. That makes it partly yours, so use the opportunity and be a part of the action every now and then. Jeff
Dennis is a junior sociology major from Gail. |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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