Reader feedback essential to serve campus effectively
COMMENTARY
Jacque Petersell

The staff of the Skiff constantly tries to fix the problems many students have with the newspaper, but needs reader feedback to deal with those problems.

A lot of things gave been said about the Skiff: We’re not personal enough; You don’t see us or hear from us unless something goes wrong; We need to listen more.

The Skiff has been around for 100 years. Many students have worked on its pages and written its stories. And now, as I’m sure it has been for the last 100 years, there is still a question that echoes in the newsroom — where do we, as journalists, fit in on a college campus of students?

As individuals, we probably don’t directly interact enough with the TCU community. However, what we produce directly affects it.

Recently, I chatted with some students who get to see the university more than I do. More importantly, they get to see the effects the Skiff has on the university.

Here are their comments and my responses.

The Skiff isn’t personal enough.

The students wanted more human interest stories — something that they could relate to. They wanted to see more stories about students and life on campus.

Telling about the human side of TCU is important and it is something the Skiff admittedly hasn’t done particularly well. Recently, the only profiles appearing in the paper have been on the sports page.

But newspaper space is limited and the paper also has to cover broader topics. The administration, police and colleges within the university are a big part of TCU life. The decisions made in these departments set the standards for how students live, work and interact.

We don’t cover the small groups or events, as told by the president of the Anime and Kung Fu Association, which we didn’t even know existed.

Honestly, we, the editors, don’t get out as much as we should. Sometimes, our only contact with the university is through our reporters, photographers and copy editors. Sometimes, you assume we know more than we do. It may be in your best interest to make sure that we know about you and your events. E-mailing us at (skiffletters@tcu.edu) is one method. Contacting an editor is another; we’re listed in the newspaper.

Again, we can’t cover everything. Each day, the Skiff only has a limited amount of space for stories and announcements. It’s not something we can always control. If something doesn’t run one day, give us time, it should be gracing our pages shortly.

We need to listen more.

The students are talking, whether in class, to friends or to us through letters. They are talking about life on campus, about what’s important to them and about what they want out of a campus newspaper. But that newspaper doesn’t seem to be listening.

While we hear what you are saying, we’re not always listening. Some comments are so repetitive that they become white noise — rants about food, parking and classes for example.

Honestly, we also tend to be blinded to our accomplishments, and don’t see the fault in what we do. But when someone hits us with what we’ve done and what we’ve missed, then we listen. And it’s something we’re working on.

We need to show our faces.

I bet if you put the editor in chief of the Skiff next to an ordinary student, most people wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

Part of this goes back to our commitment to the Skiff. We can join in events or we can stay in the newsroom working on the next day’s edition. Often, we cannot do both.

While it’s our job to give you the news, it’s yours to tell us how we’re doing, tell us about what your organization is doing and let us know how you feel about certain topics.

Because we do want to listen.

We really want to be a part of the TCU community so many of us call home. Every day, we work hard to produce a newspaper for you. And we try to make it the best we can, the most informative and the most interesting.

So next time you say something about us, consider saying it to us as well.

And we want you to know that the one thing you can’t say to us is that we aren’t trying.

Copy Desk Chief Jacque Petersell is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Houston.