Welcoming in a new school year

Welcome back, Rebels. Whether you’re a freshman or would rather not admit how long it’s taking you to graduate, we hope there’s something that you can take with you from this newspaper. This particular issue is the back-to-school guide, but we hope that there’s something in The Daily Mississippian every day that is of interest to you and to your peers as we cover every aspect of University of Mississippi life-- that means you, our readers, and the people that surround you.

I’d like to take this letter to let you know a little more about us. The DM is entirely student-run, and has been for 99 years. That means that students assign the stories, students write the stories and students edit the stories. We’re working our hardest every day to bring you timely and accurate news.

We’re also looking to rev up our online presence. Keep an eye on thedmonline.com for more than what runs in the paper. Even if you’ve seen the site before, keep your eyes out. We hope you’ll be surprised.

Here’s a look at how things work at the DM:

We have a staff made up of student writers and columnists, each working under an editor in News, Opinion, Lifestyles and Sports sections. All of those report to the editor-in-chief (that’s me). We also have a group of photographers that work under a photography editor. 

Each year, the editor-in-chief is selected through an application process and an interview with a board of journalism students, faculty and the director of Student Media, Patricia Thompson.

From there, the editor gets to hire section editors and other staff members. Section editors hire their own writers. Many are journalism students, but many are not. They have to meet a GPA requirement and be currently enrolled in the University. Editors must be enrolled as full-time students.

Though the paper is student-run, we aren’t without guidance. Thompson offers guidance on touchy issues, but in the end, it’s our call what goes in the paper. No part of the University censors what goes into any issue of the DM.

We work hard to ensure that there is someone there to cover any part of Oxford life, both on-campus and off. But we’re students, too, and sometimes we miss things. Sometimes we get things wrong, too. 

What’s important to us is that you let us know. We want to ensure that we cover as much as we can, as often as we can. Let us know if you have a story idea or an event that you think needs to be covered. Many of the events that get overlooked are only passed over because we don’t know. We try to be everywhere and know everything, but we don’t always get everything.

If you have anything to say about the paper, positive or negative, send an email to me at [email protected]. We’re also interested in your story ideas, so send those along too. 

One of our biggest struggles as a paper is that it constantly changes hands. It’s rare that the editor-in-chief maintains his or her position for more than a year. Same with section editors. Writers stay for as long as they keep putting out stories. But since each person working within the DM has to be a student, most everyone is gone in four years (occasionally five or six). That means that we lose memory of old stories, contact with organizations and relationships with the people on campus. 

Forget what you’ve heard: this is the paper of 2010-2011. We want you to be involved, and to take a lot from this newspaper.

Keep that in mind, and help us help you. This is your paper, after all.