New year, new Observer

Editorial Board

As we start a new semester and a new year, The Observer hopes to 20/20 our vision for the weekly newspaper and online website. Joining thousands of people, the Editorial Board is proposing a few New Year’s resolutions. However, for many of these, we will likely be, once again, joining thousands of people in failing to achieve these resolutions. Regardless, studies suggest that clearly establishing goals—specifically, writing them down—increases the likelihood of achieving these goals by 42 percent. As such, we present the 2020 Observer Editorial Board’s New Year’s resolutions.

  1. Stop printing the same paragraph twice in a row.

Last semester, as we welcomed students back to campus with our first edition, we published an exposé on University Circle coffeehouses, as many students frequent these locations to drink expensive coffee and pastries while procrastinating on work. Apparently we procrastinate on our work and editing, too, seeing as the review for Fluffy Duck Cafe was also printed under Algebra Tea House.  

  1. Attribute credit to the correct people.

A bit too often, the wrong names accompany photos and columns captured and written by different people. In this new year, we are seeking to rectify and make up for these past errors. For, as Danny DeVito once said, “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

  1. Go digital.

The Observer understands that newspapers are credited as a dying art. People get frustrated by ink-stained hands and trying to fold the papers back up properly. Well, as long as we have trees standing as a supply of paper—so, only a few more years—there will surely be newspapers. For, there is something to be said about walking to get your newspaper and flipping through the pages with a nice cup of Joe early in the morning. However, as millennials, we all also understand the convenience and beauty of portable technology and, of course, its applications. For 2020, our marketing manager hopes to release a digital Observer newsletter featuring each month’s top stories. Furthermore, perhaps our beloved executive editor will finally get around to creating more online video content, like he has long promised us. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to produce an Observer app so that you can receive your favorite independent student news source on-the-go.

  1. Increase readership.

All jokes aside, we strive to produce a high-quality paper every week that showcases events on campus and in the community as well as opinions of different students with varying experiences. We are continuously working to make the content of the paper interesting and creating other programs so students with different interests can become involved. We appreciate students taking the time to pick up a copy on Fridays as a means of connecting with other students and the community. And, if you have a yearning to help cover events or share an opinion, then come join our team—little to no experience required to start writing.