December 2, 2006: Leaving Memorial Stadium after a 27-16 Cal win in the Big Game, I came across the first batch of protesters climbing the oaks in the grove west of the stadium. I groaned a bit. Not because I disagreed with their cause, but because I knew those protesters had just ruined the rest of my day, because I would have to report instead of celebrate. What I didn’t know, was that they were also beginning to shape the next many months of my Daily Cal career.

At the time I didn’t think the protest would last through winter break. Campus entered finals and then emptied out, but through rainstorms and cold, the tree-sitters persevered. When we returned in mid-January, they were there waiting for us.

At the time I was the city news editor, and because the student athletic center issue took on aspects of both city and university coverage, I spent a lot of my time over the next year talking and writing about the the tree-sit and lawsuits. Thanks to a tip, we were there when the UC police arrived to supervise the construction of the first fence in August 2007. (That’s the glamor of this job. There’s nothing like getting up at 5 a.m. to watch minor construction.) We were there for the second fence too, and all the protests, nude or otherwise, in between.

Now, a year later, most of the oaks are gone. I was a bit upset to hear this on Friday, again not because of my personal feelings about the grove, but instead because I was out of the country when it happened. Through 600 days of protest, I’ve barely missed one of the big days, but unfortunately family duties called, and I missed the epic climax of the battle.

Driving back into Berkeley on Saturday morning, I made a point of driving along Piedmont Avenue to the grove. Workers were busy clearing away the felled trees, yet four tree-sitters persevered, and still do, in the redwood they have named Redwood Mary. It’s hard to describe my feelings on this site, except to say that it seemed all too anticlimactic. What had been a grove of such importance to so many people, now looked like nothing more than a cleared construction site, awaiting a foundation, some walls and a roof.

I’ve been continually surprised by events at the grove, and by now I’ve learned my lesson to not call it over until all sides say it is. I know those four tree-sitters are still up there, and I know a lot can happen before the university begins construction. But the central physical feature which served as a daily reminder of the battle–a battle over trees, safety and philosophy–is now gone.

Life goes on, and the Daily Cal’s coverage certainly will. But when I look back at my time at UC Berkeley, I will remember the battle for the oaks, as I’m sure many of my peers will too. It was no Free Speech Movement, or Vietnam War protest, but it was ours, and so while we are relieved, excited or saddened by the events of the last few days, I think we can all be bit nostalgic.

Today’s paper was the last Wednesday print edition for the immediate future. As we announced this week, we will no longer be printing a Wednesday edition of our paper as a cost-saving measure. We’ve gotten a lot of response, and a lot of questions, but I’d like to address one that keeps coming up, both from our staff and our readers.

Why Wednesdays?

Unfortunately, I don’t have a perfect answer, save for perhaps, “Why not?”. We take pride in every issue we put out, and so we certainly do not have a day which we would like to cut at all.

That said, there are a few points which we considered:

• Wednesday is the only two-section issue of our publication schedule. We publish the arts & entertainment page on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the opinion page on Mondays and Thursdays, but on Wednesdays it’s just news and sports. Cutting Wednesday means less of a disruption for our readers.
• It’s important for us to keep our sports section strong, and overwhelmingly their coverage is greatest closer to the weekends.
• So it really comes down to the last section which is most affected, our news team. The simple truth is news happens every day, and there really is no better or worse day to not have a paper. And as we move toward a 24-7 news cycle online at www.dailycal.org, we will be using our print edition more to feature long-term reporting and features, and get the breaking news to you faster on the Web.

As a reminder, you can expect full fresh content Wednesdays (and every day) online. That includes a special Web-only columnist, to be announced.

Thoroughly unsatisfied with this answer? Let me know in the comments or at editor@dailycal.org.

Today we are announcing some difficult changes at the Daily Cal. I can assure you that these decisions were not reached lightly and we are actively working to reverse many of them as soon as possible. For updates on the situation, see www.dailycal.org/notice.

I would like to use this space to highlight a few of the things which are going VERY well around here.

While many students were on summer vacation, the Daily Cal continued putting out great work. Of particular excellence was the ongoing coverage of the Memorial Stadium showdown, as well as our sports desk’s coverage of Cal Olympians. (Examples here, here and here).

This summer also saw the debut of Daily Cal video content. All of it can be found on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/thedailycal. Check out what Call football coach Jeff Tedford had to say about his quarterback pick.

Entering the fall semester we have an energized staff and you can expect great things. I will be using this space on a frequent basis to keep you updated on our internal workings. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at editor@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian launched its redesigned Web site Sunday evening. It was another step in our efforts to increase our online capabilities. The redesign has been in the works since July, when we had our first online summit to brainstorm new features. In addition to having a much cleaner look and feel, we wanted the site to address several key issues:

1. Improve user navigation and interactivity of our content
2. Organize the many projects we’ve introduced such as blogging, photo reprints, multimedia, Marketplace
3. Increase our online revenue-generating capabilities
4. Better feature our articles and special issues

(Click here to read more…)

As you may have noticed, The Daily Californian Web site is undergoing a major overhaul. We realize there is still a lot of work to be done, and we ask you please be patient! Although we have many new features in the works, the most immediate concerns we are addressing are implementing our more advanced site search and improving our article organization system.

The purpose of the redesign is to ensure our organization’s online presence is competitive with other newspapers. The first sentence of the Daily Cal mission statement reads: “The Daily Californian exists and functions to provide an opportunity for the students of the University of California to receive training in journalism and all aspects of newspaper production.”

Most professional newspaper organizations are increasingly integrating podcasts, photo galleries and video to complement their coverage. The Washington Post’s summer internship application this year included a separate section asking applicants to “describe your multimedia experience or interest.”

A major focus of the Daily Cal over the past year has been on multimedia development. This semester, we are making an even greater effort to produce more audio slideshows and podcasts. When the bulk of our changes are implemented we will be able to more effectively display these features.

(Click here to read more…)

Two months since the launch of The Daily Californian Editor’s Blog, we’re making a few changes to better fulfill the original purpose of this project.

As part of our commitment to editorial transparency, this blog will now include posts by all Daily Cal editors. It will continue to explore issues on editorial decision-making, ethics and coverage, but the posts will now be from the people directly involved.

I’m going to come out and say it: This is the year the Cal football team earns a trip to the Rose Bowl in January.

Personally, I do not believe in jinxing the thing. After all, Bears fans have tried every trick in the book for almost a half-century to no avail. Plus, it’s my senior year. One can hope, right?

Whether you agree with me or not, you must at least acknowledge the possibility of Cal playing in January, and with that in mind, the Daily Cal is poised to bring you comprehensive coverage of Bears football all season long.

There will be four writers on the beat—sports editor Steffi Chan, Steven Dunst, Ryan Gorcey and Gerald Nicdao. Chan said the extra personnel will mean more analysis and features on players who otherwise would not get as much coverage. This week’s articles included features on Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, and Craig Stevens.

The special Saturday Gameday editions will again be passed out at all home games and at the Big Game in Stanford. We hope to generate awareness about the issues and devise a more efficient distribution plan, especially for the students attending the games.

It can either be a magical season or just another heartbreaking chapter for Cal, but we’re ready to bring you all the details. For the next four months, let’s savor all the memories!

The beginning of a semester is always a challenging time for the Daily Cal. There are more than 100 employees working in the editorial department, and because all of them are students, we have to overcome high turnover rates inherent to being a student-run organization.

For those interested in joining the Daily Cal, this means there are going to be opportunities available. The first two weeks beginning with Welcome Week is the most important time for our recruitment. We had our first recruitment meeting Aug. 24, and we’ll have our final one this Friday at 4 p.m. at our office.

This summer, development editor Bryan Thomas redesigned the application, which was part of a bigger plan to improve how we track the status of our applicants. The application deadline this fall is Sept. 5, giving editors time to review before the Sept. 14 hiring deadline.

While section editors will hire based on the current needs of their sections, we stress that it is OK not to have previous journalism experience. The Daily Cal is looking for responsible and dedicated individuals who are looking to improve.

“Prior experience is a plus, but we all realize when we get here that we have a lot to learn,” said Thomas, who interviews applicants for the news sections.

Good luck to all the students out there on the new semester! For more information about our recruitment process, please visit apply.dailycal.org.

Today, the Daily Cal published a special Welcome Week issue on the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Being on a campus with so much history, we’re fortunate we can revisit some of these events.

“Ever since I started at the Daily Cal I wanted to do something on the 1960s because it was so unique to Berkeley,” said Katlyn Carter, who edited the issue along with Julie Strack. “I thought it’d be a good access point to look at the late ’60s, which was a very pivotal time for the campus and the community.”

The edition gave the Daily Cal staff a unique opportunity to dig through archives, revisit the events and people of 1967, and most importantly from our perspective, examine the impact the movement had—and continues to have.

“It was inevitable that a portion of the issue would just look back, but we tried to compare it to what the campus and the city is like today and look at why that is,” Carter said. “We tried to examine the impact of the 60s not only on campus, but in the country today.”

We’re a couple weeks away from the start of the fall semester, which is an important time for Daily Cal staff members as we prepare for the rigors of daily production.

But in addition to publishing a daily newspaper, The Daily Californian serves as a training institution for students interested in journalism. This is an especially important responsibility for us because UC Berkeley does not have an undergraduate journalism program.

Over the years, we’ve prepared many employees for careers in journalism. Currently, there are Daily Cal alumni working in places such as the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and NBC. This summer, two of our graduated seniors—last year’s editor in chief Tiffany Hsu and former opinion page editor Amina Khan—landed internships at the Los Angeles Times. We’re very proud of their achievements, but we hope to do an even better job of training students in the future.

This fall we will debut The Daily Cal DeCal: Intro to the Practice of Journalism. It is an introductory journalism course aimed at providing students with practical experience to understand journalistic principles. Having a structured training program ensures students will get a view of the various components of a newsroom and how they work together. We will draw from the expertise of industry professionals, current editors and Daily Cal alumni for this course.
(Click here to read more…)