STATESMAN SOAPBOX: Musings on what I’ve learned as editor
The time has come, the editor said, to talk of many things. Of columns, stories and election days, and why letters to the editor are so mean.
Yes, sadly, the school year is coming to an end and this is the last issue of The Statesman for this year. My time as editor in chief of The Utah Statesman is over – which is cause for the breaking out of the bubbly in the ASUSU offices I’m sure. After a year of long nights, early mornings and dealing with angry readers, I will get a chance to rest for a little bit before heading off to a summer public relations internship. But before I leave The Statesman in the hands of next year’s very talented editor, one whom I have considerable amount of respect for, I wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve learned in my year as editor in chief.
The Utah Statesman is the third student newspaper I have worked on as editor in chief, having done so with my junior high and high school papers. While my previous experiences gave me an idea of how to do the job, being in charge of a college newspaper was an entirely different story. The Utah Statesman has a weekly distribution of 18,000 and there are even more people who read the paper online every day. That means there are a lot of people out there reading what we print. There’s definitely some pressure to make sure what we publish is of some value and is of decent quality. It’s kind of intimidating to know that people around this country have seen my stories online and many have responded – some positive, some negative.
While I know I’m no hero and would make a horrible motivational speaker, I have learned some things this year that I think will be instructive to college students in general and to future journalists and readers of The Statesman.
Being a humor columnist and writing editorials frequently, I have learned that when you spout your opinion, not everyone will agree with what you say. No matter how hard you try to tailor your words to avoid offending someone, you inevitably will. That’s how life seems to be. So don’t try to tailor to people. Live your life the way you want to, say the things you believe and stick with it. Sure it requires some thick skin, but at the end of the day you’ll sleep well knowing you haven’t sold yourself out to cater to someone else’s beliefs.
At the same time, I’ve also learned that my opinion isn’t the only one out there. In fact, I’ve learned to welcome hearing opinions from others, as it only adds to the conversation and usually serves to strengthen my own opinions. I have often cringed at letters to the editor and columns I have published. It’s like a moral battle within myself to publish something I don’t believe, but I am committed to honoring the First Amendment and I publish them anyway. Who’s to say other students don’t believe what is being said? I believe everybody should add to the collective conversation, and The Statesman can be a great arena for that conversation to happen.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about working for a newspaper is how apparent your mistakes are. I admit it, I’ve made mistakes this year. The Statesman has made mistakes this year. We were by no means perfect. While we wish there were never mistakes, that is often difficult with inexperienced writers and editors. The Statesman is, in large part, a learning experience for journalism students and other students. But I don’t think we make that many more mistakes than any other organization out there. The difference is we print our mistakes for the whole world to see.
I hope I’ve made some changes for the better during my time as editor. Most of the changes were internal, improving the efficiency and training of writers and editors. Hopefully I influenced in small measure what readers actually saw. If nothing else, I hope readers learned something or enjoyed what we printed. For those of you who are loyal readers, thank you for your support, and I hope you keep reading.
Seth R. Hawkins is the editor in chief of The Utah Statesman and a senior majoring in public relations. Questions and comments can be sent to him at seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu.