As Case Western Reserve University’s student-run newspaper, we—The Observer—are dedicated to representing and uplifting the community and student voices. We feel it is our duty as the school newspaper to hear and voice the pressing concerns of the student body in order to keep the campus informed while acting as a voice for change.
Established in 1969, the Case Western Reserve Observer is CWRU’s student newspaper, which combined two previously existing papers, the Tech and the Tribune. It came out of the 1967 federation between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology.
The Daily calls itself “Case Western Reserve University’s internal communications outlet, distributed every weekday via an e-newsletter to all faculty, staff and students.” Established in the mid-2000s, its self-described purpose is not only to be a source of positive campus news but also to act as a liaison to disseminate university-approved events and messages.
Our goals are distinctly different: The Daily focuses on our campus’ achievements, events and news, which tend to highlight the positives of CWRU’s community, while The Observer covers campus news and topics based on student, faculty and community views and interests.
To illustrate this point, let’s examine how our coverage differed during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. On May 2, the third day of the encampment, The Daily ran a profile on three dental students and advertised the “Late Night Breakfast” event run by Residence Life. At the same time, The Observer published a photojournalism piece about the encampment with live updates from the Instagram account, hoping to keep the campus informed about the unfolding student-led event.
During this time, The Observer published many letters to the editor. These allowed members of the campus community to share their thoughts on the current event, even directly responding to articles in the paper if they wished to do so. Faculty members were able to voice their discontent with the way the administration decided to handle the protestors and state what they believed should be altered going forward in a clear, organized and public way. These are just some of the ways in which The Observer has provided a channel for discussion among the entire campus. Engaging with each other is the only way we can eventually reach harmony and dispel a constant state of tension.
Student journalism is a fundamental part of the collegiate experience. Not only does The Observer translate our thoughts, feelings and opinions into articles, but it also immortalizes the experience of students. At The Observer, our entire system—from writing articles to designing the print—is entirely run by students. We intend to remain decentralized, relying on the interests of the students and faculty to inform what we decide to cover in our weekly issues. This differs from the more centralized model of The Daily in which those over the newsletter are the main contributors to the final product.
Because The Observer and The Daily have different missions, their coverage can end up being vastly different, which is not a bad thing. The Daily is run by professional staff in University Marketing and Communications to highlight important campus events and achievements while The Observer is run and written mainly by students and staff in order to shed light on current events and opinions.
While the Observer focuses on giving a voice to students in order to spark discourse, The Daily “hope[s] students read [the newsletter] to stay up to date on the informative events and incredible work taking place across the university—as well as to get to know some of the exceptional people in our community.” Because it is published nearly daily and informed by a wide campus network, it can cover a wide variety of topics, from undergraduate life to the Cleveland community—and even beyond. “The mission of The Daily is to grow awareness of the wide-ranging research, achievements and events taking place throughout our campus community,” its website reads. Its stories are designed to reflect positively on the university to uplift its main audience, those who are already affiliated with CWRU.
That being said, it would be irresponsible for us to simply use our platform to share the positives of life on campus. If we resorted to that, there would be no incentive for the school to do better. Furthermore, we are highly receptive to criticism. We recognize the fact that the newspaper creates a space for discussion and are not afraid to recognize differences in opinion. The Observer provides a platform for anyone to voice their opinions so that we can generate productive discourse that strengthens communication rather than divides us.