Media must re-define credibility
Skiff looks to student input for success in spring semester

Screen writer and film director Ron Shelton says life is made of defining moments, in which a person either defines the moment or is defined by the moment.

In the months following November’s presidential election, the media have been forced to be redefined.

During the election process, the media were defined by inaccuracy and bias, causing more skeptics to rise to the fore.

The Skiff looks at a skeptical readership as a challenge to be defined by credibility.

By constantly seeking to deal with news in a timely and fair fashion, we hope to gain more credibility.

Art Nauman, retired ombudsman of the Sacramento Bee, said of credibility: “It is gained by the inch; it is lost by the foot.”

While Nauman’s point illustrates the uphill climb journalists face, the Skiff affords students to do it with a ostensible safety harness.

The Skiff is a student-run newspaper, and it is used to teach students the characteristics and the skills necessary to succeed in the journalism field.

Although it is the newspaper’s desire to be perfect, mistakes are inevitable. Thus, it is important that all readers of the Skiff make us aware of our mistakes. We believe there is no such thing as a minor error.

Just as readers can deem it their responsibility to make us aware of mistakes, all readers are also invited to be a part of the newspaper’s production.

Author Norman Maclean wrote, “It is those who we live with and love and should know, who elude us.”

Our staff is cooped up in the Moudy Building South for hours on end, so it is feasible that we miss out on some things within our community.

We need everyone’s help in providing us with eyes and ears focused on the campus. Tell us about events of interest, issues being discussed or anything else deemed to be informative to the readers.

While we do ask for the help of the readers, we also plan to give back. The current editorial board has 15 members, the largest number in the Skiff’s 99-year history.

The diversity within the 15-member board has made brainstorming sessions successful in the ideas that have ensued. Throughout the semester, we will choose important or controversial issues and call for campus-wide discussions of them. Also we have started a daily international digest to illustrate to readers information that is sometimes ignored in the safe confines of the TCU campus.

In the interest of service journalism, we have updated the nameplate to reflect modern design changes and bring unity between sections and the overall visual presentation of the paper.

It may be a bad idea to state our lofty goals at the beginning of the semester, because some of them may not be accomplished.

In fact Aristotle said: “Everything has preferred state of rest, which anybody would take up if it were not driven by some force or impulse.”

But the staff at the Skiff has never shown signs of being satisfied with a state of rest.

Instead, the staff’s perpetual impulse to work hard is why I’m confident this semester will be defined as a success for the Skiff.

Editor in Chief Rusty Simmons is a senior broadcast journalism major from Woodbridge, Va.
He can reached at (jrsimmons@student.tcu.edu).

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

Letters to the editor: The Skiff welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, signed and limited to 250 words. To submit a letter, bring it to the Skiff, Moudy 291S; mail it to TCU Box 298050; e-mail it to skiffletters@tcu.edu or fax it to 257-7133. Letters must include the author’s classification, major and phone number. The Skiff reserves the right to edit or reject letters for style, taste and size restrictions.