Letter From the Editors

Hello readers,  

As the semester comes to a close, we welcome you to our last edition of the paper.  

We’re very excited for you to read this edition of the newspaper. Some articles we recommend you take a look at: The new Indigenous Club,  

As the editors of the newspaper, we strive to bring you, the reader, truthful and objective reporting. We wanted to bring further transparency to this.  

Some of you might have heard already, but there is officially a new club on Engage DU called: Conservative Students for Civic Discourse.  

There is a constitution that you can find, listing more information, guidelines, and contacts of the club.  

Although the Dominican Star initially planned on covering this story, we decided not to pursue it this semester. Unfortunately, a source attempted to place conditions during an interview that were out of line with standard practice.   

The source requested that their interview could only be used on the condition that a specific reporter would write the story.   

We also faced pushbacks from a second source when attempting to write the story, ending in them canceling a set interview after an opinion that did not align with theirs was expressed.  

As editors, we cannot allow sources to determine who covers a story. We know that our readers do not deserve to read news that has been influenced by sources.  

We are disappointed that we were unable to bring this story out to you when the mission, according to the club’s constitution, is to encourage conversation.  

We ultimately decided to take this as an opportunity to explain our reporting process to you all.   

First, we receive story tips from our DU community, and whether it be from staff, faculty, or students, we take these tips with great importance.  

Additionally, our assignment editor and Star staff analyze local and national news trends to bring you the most important and pressing coverage.  

Second, we research and fact-check story tips to ensure that the topic is a valid and legitimate news item. 

Third, our assignment editor assigns stories to our team of reporters. The reporter then contacts a variety of sources, including administrators, faculty, staff, and students.  

There are levels to reporting a news story. Sometimes, depending on the topic, we have joint stories where multiple reporters write, interview, edit, or contribute to a story.  

Fourth, stories are submitted to our team of editors to review for publication. Our assignment editor passes stories to our copy editor to check for grammar, clarity, and AP style writing.  

Fifth, co-editors Betsy and Bianca review stories to ensure that critical information and sources are present, along with reviewing accuracy of facts. 

Sixth, during our Sunday production day, our Star staff reviews the final layout, graphics, and stories. After edits are finalized, the designers send the print edition of the paper to a third party.  

On Wednesday, stories are run online and print editions of the paper are distributed on campus newsstands.  

We hope this brings clarity to our readers and future sources about the Dominican Star’s reporting process.  

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to one of us.  

Xoxo, 

 

B & B