Editors at the Daily Cal constantly give feedback to each other, but not surprisingly, some of the best feedback comes from our readers through comments and e-mails. Readers are not only unconditionally honest; they also provide an “outside” perspective to the organization. They can question practices so ingrained in our minds that we don’t think about them actively all the time.

One of the more interesting comments left in the arts & entertainment section was on an article by writer Matthew Peters about a local exhibit by Napa Valley artist Valerie Raven:

I’m shocked that you’ve stopped exclusively trying to be a fifth-rate Entertainment Weekly by covering mainstream movies and albums … [and] report on the one thing which you are maaaaybe qualified to talk about, Berkeley’s scene. And what do you do? Shit on a local artist? Give me a break!!

This excerpt of this anonymous comment points to questions all college newspapers and smaller publications face: Why cover mainstream releases when so many well-known outlets already cover them? Shouldn’t smaller papers focus on the local scene? (Click here to read more…)

Let me get a little Brechtian on you for one second: A good arts section is, in my humble opinion, about more than just telling you what to spend your lunch money on this week. Sure, it’s handy to know whether or not a new movie like “The Kingdom” is any good, but what’s really worthwhile is to take pieces of culture we’re handed and then pull them apart—to examine what values and ethics they’re really presenting us with, reconciling it within a wider context and cultural climate and then finally deeming its worth.I use “The Kingdom” as an example because Daily Cal writer Ryland Walker Knight recently used most of his 12 inches of newsprint to focus on the troubling racial politics that had been slipped in under the big Hollywood sheen in that particular film. If you’re looking for a simple, thumbs up or down kind of rating, this may frustrate you, but a good review section will put a bit of dignity back into that colorless term “consumer.” (Click here to read more…)