TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1966

THE MICHIGAAN DAILI

PAGE THREE

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1966 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE THREE


The

Daily

Pipes

News

and

Views

to

University

By CLARENCE FANTO
Managing Editor
The Michigan Daily, the Uni-
versity's morning paper which has
been publishing for 76 years with
more editorial freedom than is
granted to most college news-
papers, means many things to its
readers, to its staff.
For some, the Daily's home at
420 Maynard Street is a place to
escape the ivory-tower academic
atmosphere which pervades some
parts of the University. It is a
place to engage in probing dis-
cussions with congenial colleagues,
to argue about U.S. foreign policy
and University administrators' at-
titudes toward students. The Daily
thus serves as a "second home"
on campus for much of its staff-
and in some instances, it is a first
home-figuratively and literally.
For other staffers, the Daily
serves as a forum for self expres-
sion, either in its editorial col-
umns which are open to all Daily
writers, or in columns and features
throughout the paper. The sound
of typing can usually be heard in
the Daily's offices, which are never
closed. Students interested in
covering campus events, probing
into the University's administra-
tive problems, examining academic
quality or the lack of it in the
classrooms, reviewing top-quality
plays, concerts and films, or ex-
pressing their opinions on inter-
national and national affairs, all
find a home at the Daily.
Enjoyable Work
Student "activists" who feel that
as an instrument of communica-
tion, an influential newspaper is
the best means of initiating
change and persuading highly-
placed University officials to ini-
tiate reforms, can also be found at
420 Maynard Street. The goal of
these students is to make the Uni-
versity community a better place
to live in every sense of the word
-to make academic pursuits more
meaningful, intellectual inter-
change more vital, and cultural
activities more rewarding.
But no matter what a Daily
staffer's primary field of interest
may be, he shares something in
common with all his colleagues-
he enjoys working at the Daily
and he has fun at whatever lie
does there. The Daily staffer also
enjoys the feeling that he is help-
ing inform fellow students about
important developments at the
University which directly affect
their lives here.
Most important, _the students
who remain on the Daily for any
length of time recognize the
unique role of a free press in our
society. The press, if it fulfills its
responsibilities, is a primary in-
strument of change and reform.
Through its news columns, a con-
scientious newspapers probes and
examines controversial situations
and individuals, sometimes find-
ing mismanagement and ineffi-
ciency, occasionally turning up a
job well done. Through its edi-
torial page, the newspaper cru-
sades for reforms and improve-
ments in any aspect of life-and
at a large University, these may
run the gamut from increased
student participation in adminis-
tration decisions vital to their
future, to a larger role for the
student in determining his aca-
demic and personal future.
Community Service
A newspaper which ti'uly serves
its community must start out from
the assumption that there is much
in that community which requires
improvement; and that, either
through sheer inertia, inability to
agree on means toward an end, or
other administrative "red tape,"
the powers-that-be are somehow
not always fulfilling their respon-
sibilities to promote improvement
and change as well as they might
be.
What does the Daily mean to

its readers? There are as many
answers to this questions as there
are individuals who subscribe to
the paper-last year, more than
8500. The Daily is read by more
than 30,000 students, faculty
members and administrators, since
a single copy is usually read by
many indiivduals. For example, a
60-man fraternity in many cases
may share two or three Daily sub-
scriptions.
For most readers, the Daily
serves as a primary source of in-
formation about what is happen-
ing in the rapidly expanding Uni-
versity community. Readership
surveys have also indicated that,
particularly for student readers,
national and international news
ranks highly in interest. A large
percentage of Daily readers do not
read other newspapers while they
are at the University.
Dual Role
The Daily thus has a dual role
as far as its readers are concern-
ed-it must inform them as com-
pletely and accurately as possible
about events and significant
trends of importance on the cam-
pus, while also keeping them well-
informed about what takes place
in the nation and the world.
The Daily also keeps its audience
up-to-date on sports-professional
and local. For film, theatre and
music buffs, the Daily covers all
important events in these fields.
The opening of the Ypsilanti
Greek Theatre, a repertory com-
pany which will perform Greek
tragedies and comedies with stars
like Judith Anderson and Burt
Lahr only 10 miles from the cam-
pus, is an event of nationwide
cultural significance which will
receive full coverage in the Daily.
The many special film showings
of classic American and foreign
films which help make Ann Arbor
a vital, lively place to live are
also fully covered. The large num-
ber of live theatrical productions,
by students as well as professional
groups such as the Association of
Producing Artists, also receive full
treatment in the Daily.
In order to join the Daily, a
student need not have prior jour-
nalistic experience. A carefully
organized training program is con-
ducted at the beginning of each
academic term. Through this
process, a student first becomes a
"reporter-trainee." He writes one
story a week on University events,
and "works" desk one night per
week. On desk, he learns the rudi-
ments of newspaper style, copy
editing, headline writing, and news
judgment.
Mixed Beats
After one term, the staffer is
ready to become a full-fledged
staff reporter and desk editor.
"Beats" covering many aspects of
University life-student organiza-
tions, administration, academic af-
fairs, state education, city, culture,
national education or research-
are assigned to various reporters,
all of whom are able to choose a
beat oased on their personal in-
terests and preferene. iats 'are
changed twice yearly, so that after
two years.on the Daily, a reporter
will have covered in depth at least
four different aspects of Univer-
sity news.
At the same time, the staffer
assumes increased responsibility
for putting out the Daily. Once
each week, he continues to work
desk, but now he is in a position
of greater authority.
A day and a night editor and
assistant editor are responsible for
the next day's paper. Staffers
start as assistant day editors. They
assist in the production of the
newspaper's inside news pages, in-
cluding cultural and entertain-
ment news, world-national news
and general campus news. At the
same time, the assistant day edi-
tor perfects his knowledge of style

rules, copy editing and headline
writing techniques.
Print Shop
Later, depending on his nrofi-
ciency and accomplishment, the
staff member moves up to assis-
tant night editor. His job is to
assist the night editor in the pro-
duction of the front page, the
final touches on the inside pages,
and in "locking" the paper. The
Daily has its own professional
print shop in the basement of the
420 Maynard Street headquarters.
Copy is systematically funneled to
the shop, where it is set in type
by three experienced professional
typesetters.
Later in the evening, a composi-
tor comes in to set the galleys of
type in their proper position in a
page form. He is assisted in this
task by "layout" sheets for each
page which indicate which stories
and headlines are to appear in
specific positions on the pages.
The day editor draws up the lay-
outs for the inside news pages;
the night eidtor's primary duty is
page one, although he is fully
responsible for the entire paper.
The, assistant night editor works
with the compositor in locking the
pages, marking cuts from stories
which have turned out to be too
long for their allotted position on
a page.
After some months as an assis-
tant night editor, the staff mem-
ber becomes a day editor, usually

in his sophomore year. This is one
of the two primary positions of
responsibility for each day's paper.
As day editor, the staffer works
on page three, the Daily's "second
front page" which consists entire-
ly of national and world news.
The day editor also is responsible
for the other inside news pages.
Finally, the intrepid Daily staff
member is ready to become a night
editor, usually after long months
of experience on the paper. His
primary duties are to edit copy
and headlines for page one, but his
overall responsibility comprises
the entire day's paper. He care-
fully checks local page-one stories
for accuracy and completeness and
his work in improving and revising
a story often makes the difference
between a poorly-written, inac-
curate story and a high-quality,
informative piece of work. Thus,
the night editor's role has a great
deal of creative potential, as do
the other -desk editor positions.
Latest Deadline
As a morning paper, the Daily
has a deadline of 2 a.m., the latest
for any morning paper in the
state of Michigan. Working the
inside pages lasts from about 3
p.m. until 9 p.m. The hours from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m. are devoted to
work on the front page as well as
locking of all the pages. The day
and night editors work overlap-
ping shifts, thus ensuring a maxi-
mum working staff during the

most critical early-evening hours.
Day editors and their assistants
are on the job from 3 p.m. until
9 p.m. once a week. Night editors
and assistants work from 7 p.m.
until 2 a.m. weekly. Thus, there
are at least six different staff
members in each of the four desk
editor positions at any one time.
The Daily is published six times
weekly, every morning except
Monday. Trainee-reporters can
thus expect to work perhaps 7-9
hours per week at first. The weekly
work load gradually increases as
staff members move up and in-
crease in responsibility. Night edi-
tors-sophomores and juniors-
often work up to 20 hours per
week working desk once each week
and writing news stories and edi-
torials. But the amount of work
put in at the Daily is solely the
decision of the individual and
work schedules are adjusted to
take into account academic and
personal pressures. Desk editors
are paid up to $35 per month.
In their junior year, staff mem-
bers petition for paid senior posi-
tions to the Board in Control of
Student Publications, a group of
faculty members, students and
professional journalists who over-
see the Daily's business affairs and
maintain responsibility for the
paper's accuracy. The board exerts
no direct control over news and
editorials, as the Daily is an in-
dependent organization managed

by students. It is self supporting,
taking in at least $200,000 per year
in advertising and subscription
revenue.
Liasons
Senior editors are appointed by
the board, usually acting upon
recommendations by the outgoing
senior staff. The editor and execu-
tive editor are the primary liason
between the Daily and the Uni-
versity community, and spend
much time conferring with top
administrative officials and fac-
ulty members about problems con-
fronting the University. The man-
aging editor and his two associates
are responsible for the overall
content of the newspaper, concen-
trating their efforts on the news
pages. The editorial director and
his two associates prepare the
editorial page each day, selecting
from editorials written by staff
members, letters to the editor
from students, faculty and admin-
istrators, syndicated columns such
as Walter Lippmann, and syndi-
cated political cartoons by Her-
block, Mauldin and Conrad, lead-
ers in their field. Columns by so-
cial critic Paul Goodman and Jules1
Feiffer's cartoons are also carried
on the editorial page. The edi-
torials which appear in the Daily
do not represent official Daily
policy; they are signed by the
writer and express solely his point
of view. The Daily's editorial
columns are open to all shades

of political opinion, and the only
criteria for acceptance of an edi-
torial are accuracy, logic and
adherence to the paper's high
standards of writing style.
Other senior editorial positions
include the magazine editor, who
is responsible for publishing the
Daily Magazine, a monthly forum
for long-deeply-researched articles
and the associate managing editor
in charge of personnel, who or-
ganizes the staff, conducts the
training program, and helps iron
out any problems which may de-
velop among the staff.
The Daily's sources of news are
many and varied. Reporters on
the various beats develop close
contacts with student leaders, ad-
ministrators, faculty members or
state legislators, as the case may
be. When they become night edi-
tors, staffers usually become "beat
heads," responsible for news
coverage in each area of Univer-
sity affairs. The beat heads super-
vise a staff of from 2 to b report-
ers on each beat.
AP
For coverage of off-campus
news, the Daily relies on the As-
sociated Press worldwide news
service, the largest news organiza-
tion in the world. Four AP teletype
machines in the Daily's news room
pour out a continuous stream of
news from points around the
world. There are separate wires
for world-national news, state
news, sports, and a special line to
Lansing and Grand Rapids for
late-breaking state news, some of
which directly affects the Univer-
sity and its students. The special
line to Lansing assures yrompt
coverage of action by the state
legislature on the University's ap-
propriation request.
The Associated Press guarantees
delivery of a bulletin originating
anywhere in the world to its mem-
ber papers within one minute. The
Daily, as a full member of the
cooperative news agency, supp ies
the AP with campus news of broad
state or national interest.
The Daily is also supplied with
news photos and special feature
services from the Associated Press,
in addition 'to the basic news re-

port received on the teletype ma-
chines. The Daily is thus competi-
tive with any large metropolitan
newspaper in the prompt and
thorough handling of world, na-
tional and state news. Twenty-
four hours a day, seven days a
week, news dispatches from all
over the world stream into the
Daily's newsroom, where they are
edited for publication or filed for
future reference. The Daily also
monitors television and radio net-
works, leading metropolitan news-
papers such as the New York
Times and the Washington Post,
and other news services to issure
a complete world news report in
each issue. The paper also sub-
scribes to nearly all major maga-
zines and periodicals of political
significance for use by its ;tnff.
Accurate News
The Michigan Daily thus seeks
to provide the University com-
munity with complete, accurate
news as well as thought-provoking
opinion and comment on all events
of significance, no matter where
they take place. In order to *er-
form this task, a staff of at least
70 students work on the paper
at any one time, Many new staff
members among each year's fresh-
man class are sought each year.
Special meetings for freshmen
trainees and other studen ts in-
terested in joining the paper are
held immediately after registration
at the beginning of each school
term.
The Daily is constantly seeking
to expand its horizons and be of
even greater service to its readeis.
The expansion of coverage in the
area of University research was
undertaken last year with great
success. At all tines, the Daily
seeks to separate the significant
from the trivial, the meaningful
from the routine, in its coverage
of campus and world news. As the
Daily continues to grow along with
an expanding city and University,
new, previously unexplored areas
of reader interest will be explored
and examined by a growing staff
of students who find participation
on the Daily one of the most
meaningful experiences of their
life at the University.

STUDQNT 13OK SCRVICG
Lowest prices in town
on All Freshmen books.
New and Used

IN BEAT with the pulse of the nation and the world, the AP
Machines peck tirelessly, the keynotes of the news, sports and
happenings of the day.

PUT IN ITS proper setting, the news and stories become suitable
for publication through the work of linotype machines which
solidify news items into lead type.

1I215 South U.

761 -0700



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