The media.
That’s the massive conspiracy which, depending on whom you
talk to, is either aligned with or against the government with the
intent to destroy everything that is good or sacred or meaningful.
Right?
Sometimes it’s understandable people think this way, but,
no, this is not the case.
Really, those in the media don’t deserve the mystique
surrounding them. Here at the Daily Bruin News department, anyway,
we’re just a bunch of average UCLA folks, working hard to
tell you what’s up, what’s new … what’s
news.
You should think that way when you pick up the Daily Bruin and
glance at the front page. The News section is just like one of your
many acquaintances you see on Bruin Walk, and when you pick it up,
you’re stopping to say, “Hey, what’s
up?”
After all, there’s nothing weird or strange or different
or mysterious about us, the Daily Bruin News staff.
We sometimes work 9, 10, 11 hour days in the windowless, stuffy
Daily Bruin office ““Â the dungeon of the Kerckhoff Castle
““ for small, less-than-minimum-wage stipends, (those of us
lucky enough to get paid at all) ““ but that doesn’t
make us “weird.”
We sit around the dungeon at 9, 10, 11 p.m. and entertain
ourselves with UC Board of Regents jokes ““Â but that
doesn’t make us “strange.”
We plan compulsively, weeks ahead of time, for elections ““
both student government and general ““ when about 80 percent
of students don’t even bother to vote ““ but that
doesn’t make us “different.”
We get happy, really happy, when we receive something like a
copy of California’s new master plan for education in the
mail ““ but that doesn’t make us
“mysterious.”
We’re just average students, like you.
We even have social lives. (By 11 a.m. Sunday morning, busy
working on Monday’s paper, we’re already asking each
other how our weekends “were” ““Â not
“are going” ““Â but that doesn’t make us
“socially inept.”)
All jokes aside, the newsies here are not that special and we
shouldn’t be that scary. We don’t want to be.
In most ways, we’re just like anyone else at UCLA.
We root for the football team on Saturdays. We wait in textbook
lines at the start of the quarter. Those of us who drive get
parking tickets.
Some of us live in crowded triple dorm rooms, others pay $1,300
dollars a month to live in Westwood holes some people call
apartments.
We don’t have to say a secret password to get into our
place of work. We walk out of crowded classrooms with our notebooks
in hand and just stroll into Kerckhoff Hall, sometimes stopping for
a cup of coffee or a Panda Bowl on the way.
At work, we just want to be a functioning part of the UCLA
community like everyone else on this campus. We have a purpose. We
do our best to fulfill that purpose ““Â to tell you
what’s up.
And, of course, for us to tell you what’s up, first you
need to tell us. Don’t shy away from the student newspaper.
Come by the office and ask to speak with a reporter if you know of
something interesting ““ or scandalous! ““ going on at
UCLA.
We’re here to listen, think, and inform.
Sometimes we could do better.
Sometimes we’re overworked, and when you ask what’s
up, we’re like your friend who has so much going on ““
the midterm he “totally failed,” or the other midterm
he “totally has to study for tonight,” or that girl he
saw who was “totally cool,” or the basketball game last
week he attended “totally drunk” ““ that he
doesn’t know what to say first or how to say it.
But we’ll do our best for you.
We’re here to take on this massive, confusing, interesting
campus and relay it to you in the form of 600-word news articles
that will tell you what’s up.