BEGINNING this week, I am writing as the ombudsman for The Cavalier Daily. Instead of roaming over the whole opinable realm, as I've done in these pages since last semester, I'll be offering my opinions on one subject: this newspaper.
The overarching question with which I will be concerned is: How well is the newspaper serving the whole University community? But this should not be misinterpreted. I do not believe that anyone's interests are served by disloyalty to truth and freedom. Newspapers, like universities, exist to seek truth, and that means they sometimes have to report facts or offer opinions that some people might feel better if they did not. Servile journalism is neither journalism nor service. Yet this is no excuse for gratuitous offensiveness, or for failing to treat anyone with appropriate respect.
In order to keep abreast of what's going wrong (and what's going right) with The Cavalier Daily and its relationships with its readers, I'll need to hear from you. If you think the facts reported here are incorrect, the news coverage is biased, or something is offensive -- let me know.
If you'd like to be involved in examining the newspaper's work on a regular basis, let me know that, too. The Cavalier Daily is assembling, and I will chair, a panel of readers willing to contribute their diverse perspectives on how the newspaper serves the whole University community.
My own perspective is that of an exceptionally experienced student journalist, a philosopher and a non-practicing lawyer. I have about a decade of student-press experience, during high school (Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.), college (American University, where I majored in journalism), law school (the University of Pennsylvania, where media law was one of my special interests) and graduate school in philosophy (the University). I have been a founding editor-in-chief twice, a columnist twice, a copy editor, a calendar editor and a staff writer. At The (AU) Eagle, I wrote for and copy edited every section -- campus news, off-campus news, opinion, features, arts and entertainment, and the calendar -- except sports. I also have some experience in the mainstream media, and some scholarly editing experience with the Penn Law Review.
My favorite philosophers -- the ones I think get the most right -- are Ayn Rand and Aristotle, and my reading of each is influenced by the other. Politically, I am a libertarian; religiously, I am an atheist. I think the basis of ethics is a correct understanding of self-interest. But I come from a liberal, Jewish family, one that takes its liberalism very seriously, and I grew up in a kosher home. Liberty, intellectual independence, individuality and diversity are matters I take very seriously, philosophically, politically and personally -- and this, too, is part of the perspective I bring to the job of ombudsman.
That said, I want to make clear that I think part of my responsibility as ombudsman is to listen to the concerns of all Cavalier Daily readers, including those who do not share my views, and to present arguments from other sides fairly. It will be, I hope, mainly from the input of readers -- including, but certainly not limited to, those who join the readership panel -- that I take the topics of my ombudsman columns. I will not be able to respond in print to all concerns, however, and sometimes I will follow my own lead.
I believe that those whose work is criticized in print, and especially those whose names are on controversial articles, ought to have the chance to defend what they have created. The top editors have agreed that all Cavalier Daily staff members will be free to speak with me, and that there will be no retaliation for what they tell me. Newspaper staff members are also free to decline to speak to me. Unlike other writers in this paper, I may grant anonymity without consulting the editor-in-chief or informing him of the identities of my sources, but I intend to avoid granting anonymity whenever possible. My columns will be edited for spelling and grammar, but not for subject-matter or opinion. They may cover any aspect of the content and presentation of the newspaper. Most importantly, the conclusions I reach will reflect my own independent judgment. I will be The Cavalier Daily's in-house critic; I will not be its spokesman.
Alexander R. Cohen is The Cavalier Daily's ombudsman. He can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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