Skiff staff relies on student feedback

COMMENTARY
Brandon Ortiz

The Skiff newsroom is just like a classroom when you think about it.

Except that any mistake — however small, however large — can be read by more than 8,000 students. And people will call and e-mail you to complain about errors in your homework.

OK, there’s a big difference. But the point is we’re learning, and we learn very quickly that mistakes of any sort can’t be tolerated. There really is no such thing as a minor mistake.

Every semester we remind you of this, but I’ll do it again: It really is important for the Skiff to hear from you. If we misreport something, tell us. If one of our reporters is rude to you, tell us. If the crossword isn’t tough enough, tell us.

Like any human institution, the Skiff is imperfect. You probably know this better than I do. The only way we can learn from our mistakes is if they are pointed out to us. (Of course, we love praise, too. I’ll be glad to listen to any adulation.)

That said, we’ll work to prevent those mistakes from happening. And we’re taking steps we think will make the Skiff more reader friendly and broaden its coverage.

Summary headlines — the sentences that run between the main headline and the story — are back, and hopefully here to stay. We hope they will help you navigate the Skiff quickly while you’re on the way to class. (Or in class. But don’t let your professor catch you reading.)

Thanks to an influx of new reporters, the Skiff might have its biggest staff ever. So we’ve created a slew of new beats to better serve you.

• Neighborhoods: This editorial board has often criticized the student body for living inside a bubble. We hope our coverage of issues off campus will help pop the TCU bubble — or, at the very least, fight its growth.

• Graduate student issues: Our coverage of TCU’s graduate schools has been inadequate. We hope to write about issues graduate students care about.

• Student activism: We’ve assigned a reporter to cover the dozens of student clubs on campus. We’ll let you know what those clubs are doing that’s interesting, funny or notable.

We’ve also assigned a reporter to cover technology, health and every college on campus.

We hope you enjoy these new additions.

And — here it comes — if you have any suggestions, tell us.

Editor in Chief Brandon Ortiz is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Fort Worth.