Some people tell me the Daily Bruin isn’t taken as seriously as it used to be.
Some people, including one of my roommates, simply never pick up this paper.
It’s sad to think that we have stopped being relevant to a growing number of people here, and, trust me, that’s all about to change.
And do you know what? I’m actually the first person to admit that a lot of fluff has graced these fair pages. Well, dear readers, fluff be gone. Gear up for one hell of a year, and sit back while I tell you exactly how I am going to change what we do here on a daily basis.
For years, our staff has talked and talked about forming an investigative team to bring back some of that old spitfire and launch a few investigations into the university and Westwood we have been wanting to do for a while.
This summer, the spirit of our staff changed. We have a strong group of courageous and committed editors and reporters who are willing and able to pick the buck back up and delve into some very serious, and very real, investigative journalism.
If you look at our staff box you might notice that we have added the position of Enterprise editor within the news staff, and already Robert Faturechi ““ I hope the first of many to take on this role in the years to come ““ has executed a package and filed nearly a dozen document requests with the university under the California Public Records Act.
We are poised to take nearly every aspect of UCLA head-on, including the administration, faculty, student government, Associated Students UCLA and anyone else that spends student fee money or acts on behalf of this university.
Bruins United (a student government political party) has a strong majority on the Undergraduate Students Association Council. In the case of any large majority of one party on a governing body, the press and the public need to be even more vigilant than usual in their efforts to hold government accountable ““ and I promise we’ll do our part.
We have a new chancellor, Gene Block, who has promised to lead this university into the future and work with all of the campus constituencies, including students, to accomplish his goals. You will be the first to hear if he’s not meeting expectations.
The Bruin has not done a good job of covering the academic senate in the past. Did you know they decide almost all of the curriculum and academic standards here? We did, and from now on we will be covering their meetings.
These are only a few ways our coverage will change, and we already have a few big things planned for the coming quarters and a few projects in the pipeline from our Enterprise team.
This newspaper takes its role as a public servant and watchdog very seriously, and know that throughout this year I will be working in all of your interests when I plan coverage and edit stories. So if you have any ideas about our coverage, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail me.
Pesce is the 2007-2008 News editor. E-mail him with any news leads or tips at apesce@media.ucla.edu.