2008 Woodie Awards
This is how we do
Ben Smith
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Editorial
If you want international news, go to The New York Times. If you want national politics, read The Washington Post. Open Mountain Xpress to hear about Carl Mumpower's most recent antics.
But for the news that affects you most, look no further.
From desk offices in Phillips Hall to dirty couches in Mills, our mission is to tell the story of UNC Asheville from a non-affiliated, independent perspective.
In the past we've had soaring successes and embarrassing mistakes grace the 12 pages of our weekly publication, but we've always been the best and only real source of campus news.
When students protested on the quad last year after the termination of longtime counselor Maggie Weshner, we were there while the evening's deadlines loomed in front of us. We told the story and told it well, even while we misspelled "Wikipeidia" on the front page.
When the Socialist Unity League (who we erroneously called the Socialist Union League) set up a plywood replica of Israeli's West Bank wall in Palestine only to have it conquered in spray paint by the American Pride Facebook.com group, we did our job despite the glaring misnomer. In a striking change of fate, the group has since changed their name to Students for a Democratic Society.
We showed you the wall, complete with the "fuck the Intifada" and "socialism sucks ass" tags, and chatted with the spray paint toting culprits.
But at times we've reached too far for our own good. When the summer 2006 war broke out between Israeli and Hezbollah, we gleaned facts from other newspapers and put it together with insights from professors and community members. Although the war was important, (and sadly it seems like we may see another similar conflict in the not-to-soon future) we had no business covering it the way we did. There's no way we can beat international news agencies at what they do. It's like the USA Today trying to report quality international news - impossible.
So what do we do?
When huge news events occur, our duty is to localize it.
But for the news that affects you most, look no further.
From desk offices in Phillips Hall to dirty couches in Mills, our mission is to tell the story of UNC Asheville from a non-affiliated, independent perspective.
In the past we've had soaring successes and embarrassing mistakes grace the 12 pages of our weekly publication, but we've always been the best and only real source of campus news.
When students protested on the quad last year after the termination of longtime counselor Maggie Weshner, we were there while the evening's deadlines loomed in front of us. We told the story and told it well, even while we misspelled "Wikipeidia" on the front page.
When the Socialist Unity League (who we erroneously called the Socialist Union League) set up a plywood replica of Israeli's West Bank wall in Palestine only to have it conquered in spray paint by the American Pride Facebook.com group, we did our job despite the glaring misnomer. In a striking change of fate, the group has since changed their name to Students for a Democratic Society.
We showed you the wall, complete with the "fuck the Intifada" and "socialism sucks ass" tags, and chatted with the spray paint toting culprits.
But at times we've reached too far for our own good. When the summer 2006 war broke out between Israeli and Hezbollah, we gleaned facts from other newspapers and put it together with insights from professors and community members. Although the war was important, (and sadly it seems like we may see another similar conflict in the not-to-soon future) we had no business covering it the way we did. There's no way we can beat international news agencies at what they do. It's like the USA Today trying to report quality international news - impossible.
So what do we do?
When huge news events occur, our duty is to localize it.
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