Keep up with The Daily: Vol. 252
Dear Stanford Daily Alumni:
Three weeks into fall quarter, Volume 252 of The Stanford Daily is in full swing, and we’ve got plenty to catch you up on. As always, stay up to date with the latest Daily news by joining the alumni Facebook and LinkedIn groups. You can also subscribe to our Daily Digest for a morning email with top news, sports, features, and opinions.
Homecoming open house this Saturday
If you’re on campus for homecoming this upcoming weekend, be sure to stop by The Daily’s open house, which will run from 12-2:30 p.m. at the Lorry I. Lokey Stanford Daily Building, 456 Panama Mall. Catch up with fellow Daily alumni and mingle with current staffers over light food and refreshments.
You can RSVP for the open house here.
Daily@125 update
The Daily’s 125th anniversary celebration, also known as Daily@125, is quickly approaching, and we couldn’t be more excited. In addition to our two keynote speakers, Joel Stein ‘93 and Douglas Wilson ‘72, over a dozen Daily alumni from The New York Times, POLITICO, The Washington Post, ESPN, Wired, and more will serve as panelists for the event. Look out for a full schedule of events and additional details on the panels in the coming weeks.
If you want to RSVP for the event, which will take place Friday, November 17 beginning at 1 p.m., fill out this Google form here.
Due to limited capacity, we can no longer accept RSVPs for the dinner/banquet following the speaker series portion of the event.
Volume 252 update
We have kicked off our volume with some high-powered stories and an enormous group of 168 new staffers. From national announcements on DACA and Title IX that directly impact Stanford students to campus changes such as the installation of a contraception vending machine, the news cycle has kept us busy. And of course, The Daily isn’t just a daily newspaper anymore. Each week, we also release an email newsletter and a Snapchat Discover story (a multimedia project complete with animations and videos that link back to our articles). Our second magazine of the quarter is hot off the press, and be sure to look out for the next issue to be released in November and themed around The Daily@125.
Q&A with Volume 252 editor-in-chief Ada Statler-Throckmorton
We sat down with current editor-in-chief Ada Statler-Throckmorton to ask her about how the volume is going and what her plans are for The Daily for the rest of her tenure.
What are your goals for the rest of the volume?
Some of my goals are perhaps more generic and easier to quantify — I’d like high readership numbers, high writer retention and low correction rates. My hope, however, is that all three of these things will be driven by another attribute: writers pursuing stories that have impact and that they truly care about. This might look like a sports writer falling in love with volleyball, or an arts writer developing a critical eye for local dance performances. It could be an opinions columnist that delves deep into local zoning issues, or a news reporter that investigates how student-parents fare at Stanford (real example, would recommend this story). I truly believe that we will be the most successful if writers find what most motivates them and can pursue these more meaningful areas of coverage.
What do you see as the most significant challenges — financially, editorially, etc. — facing The Daily, and how have you been working to address them?
Financially, I think we have the same challenge that we’ve had for the past several volumes: how do we stay afloat as print dailies struggle across the board. Luckily, we have some initiatives to help shore up our numbers such as the yearbook, the ever-growing internship program, and our new contract with Snapchat.
Editorially, we aren’t insulated from the general low opinion of “lamestream” media. For me that places a big impetus on not only ensuring that the stories we publish are factually airtight, but also on finding the stories that people really care about. Because our staffers are also full-time students, we often struggle to find the capacity to take on some of these really critical stories. It’s something that myself and our news editors are focused on, but it takes a lot of careful planning and allocation of resources.
The Daily had a record number of new staffer applicants this year. How do you and the rest of the returning staffers plan to incorporate the new staff into the fold?
All of our returning writers and editors are incredibly excited about the new staffers, and it has definitely shown in all of the new-member programming we have going on. When it comes to the content, each of our sections has worked hard to create a comprehensive but efficient staff-development curriculum. News writers have undergone a series of workshops and will meet one-on-one with editors to work through their first stories. Sports writers had a workshop/watch-party during several away games this past weekend. These are just two examples, but let’s put it this way: The building has been put to excellent use with all of the training happening.
In addition to developing writers, we are working hard to foster community as well. From fountain hopping to senior staffer “spotlight” talks to our upcoming trivia night, we are putting on events to help our new members feel at home in The Daily.
What’s been a highlight for you so far this volume?
I will admit that “rolling out” the new writers is always a favorite of mine. The editors all dress up in crazy “rally” outfits and wake up at 5 a.m. in order to surprise-wake the new staffers and bring them back to The Daily for breakfast.
Content-wise, the new Leland’s Digest goes out to our email list every Monday night and has been a big hit with students. It’s a short, humorous read to engage our readers and provide a quick rundown of what’s going on around campus each week. With the increasing amount of competition from other media publications, it’s just another way to spotlight our content.
Yearbook evaluation
In 2016, The Daily assumed control of The Quad, the annual Stanford University yearbook. The product features editorial and photographic content looking back on the school year to complement student-submitted content and portraits of the year’s graduating seniors. It offers parents and local businesses the chance to engage with the graduating class and general Stanford community in a memorable way.
The Quad 2017 book was a major success as one of the year’s new business ventures, garnering more than $50,000 in profit over 754 books sold. With a current senior class of more than 1,500 students, The Quad 2018 is poised to follow that success!
Internship program
The internship program continues to grow with each year. This summer’s intern class had 45 high school students, with a waitlist of over 30, and generated $20,000 of revenue. The students attend weekly workshops to learn about journalism, and occasionally even teach us a thing or two about technology or social media. It’s amazing to see the quality of content and energy that these high schoolers bring to The Daily!
Some highlights from the summer and volume so far
- Student parents say Stanford can do more for them
- Money matters: A guide to Stanford’s finances
- Future of Title IX uncertain for colleges as DeVos sets ‘interim’ guidelines
- ‘This is a new kind of Cold War’: Clinton talks technology and democracy
- Emergency contraceptives now available in Old Union (which was picked up by The New York Times among others)
- Editorial Board: On free speech and engagement
- To incoming freshmen: In defense of disagreeing
- Reputation: Another year, another me?
Alumni notes
Finally, send us alumni updates — we’ll be including alumni notes in future newsletters. If you have someone who you think might make for an interesting alumni feature, email us at alumni@stanforddaily.com.
Regards,
Alexa Philippou ’18, Alumni Engagement Director, The Stanford Daily
Ada Statler-Throckmorton ’18, Editor-in-Chief, The Stanford Daily
Do-Hyoung Park ’16, Chief Operating Officer, The Stanford Daily
Tim Marklein ’91, President, Friends of The Stanford Daily
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