The Bruin hopes to inspire action

Monday, September 22, 1997 The Bruin hopes to inspire action
COLUMN Forget our faces – rather, focus attention on diverse,
worthwhile stories that shape your life

There are two long, heavy bookcases in the hallway I walk
through each day to get to work. What they hold is a rare commodity
– perspective.

Everyday I walk into the office, eyeing those ancient bound
editions of the Daily Bruin (or the California Cub, or any number
of names its had over the years).

The Bruin has changed faces a lot over the years, both in its
look and in its staff. But passing by, I realize that I don’t know
the name of a single editor earlier than 1992. And even if I knew
their names, I certainly wouldn’t know who they were or what they
stood for.

Since 1929, a new group of people has worked each year with
essentially the same goal – to create a readable, vibrant newspaper
that the campus community looks forward to picking up each day. But
few of those editors are remembered on campus today.

One year as Daily Bruin editor is really just a drop in the
bucket of my life, and I won’t be remembered in a couple years,
except by the people I work with and inevitably offend.

Reading The Bruin, you know nothing about who we are. And that’s
the goal – not to mislead you, but to focus your attention on the
stories rather than the people who report them.

Consider us your stand-ins. You can’t be everywhere the movers
and shakers are, but we usually can. Imagine the chaos of USAC
elections night – we’ll be there. The suspense of the ‘SC game –
we’ll be on the sidelines. The debut concert of a renovated Royce
Hall – front row, that’s us.

Our aim has been and will continue to be serving the readers and
reflecting what the campus commmunity is thinking and talking
about. Along the way, we dream of inspiring you to think and
act.

At the very least, we want to prompt responses to Viewpoint that
spark a dialogue between students and administration. It is our
goal to incorporate different communities’ voices in our work. But,
we have a hard time at it, simply because of who we have on our
staff.

I recently realized that this year features the most culturally
diverse editing and writing team since I joined The Bruin. But,
that’s not enough. Without a staff reflective of our readers, our
ability to understand campus concerns diminishes greatly.

UCLA has changed immensely in seven decades, and we’ve
documented that change, while also providing a forum for
debate.

Hence our current goals. We want to take chances, hoping once
again to create a more vibrant, readers’ newspaper that challenges
you, but also the university at large.

One thing we’ll be doing differently to achieve these ends is
create a color weekend edition that will hit the stands every
Friday, taking a different approach to our regular coverage. In it,
we hope to present a more critical and developed look at issues and
people affecting your life.

Journalists such as ourselves must work not for recognition, but
for love of the profession.

It’s the passion for bringing you information and stories you
can’t get anywhere else that drives us. It drives us not for
personal satisfaction (well, maybe a little), but for the
opportunity to inform and entertain you.

Who we are doesn’t matter. It’s only the work we produce that
holds any importance or meaning.

Approaching that work with the intention of providing a service
to readers is something we talk about endlessly when we’re planning
stories. But you’re the only ones who can keep us on our toes.

Remind us that we’re here to serve you. Tell us if your needs
aren’t being met. More importantly, tell us what those needs are.
The line becomes blurred when you’re in 118 Kerckhoff Hall for 10
hours a day pounding a keyboard.

We’ve got a blank canvas in front of us Monday through Friday
and we need help filling it with rich, diverse and worthwhile
stories.

Journalists should ideally serve as reader advocates, standing
where the reader can’t and giving them a view they have a right
to.

So, help us find out where that is and how to get there. Join
the ranks of the illustrious (non-famous) Daily Bruin staff. Or
just come by and tell us what’s on your mind.

And, forget my picture – it’s not important that you remember
me. I’ll end up just a name on a page in that bookshelf. But
hopefully you’ll remember some stories that inspired you to act.
And that would be enough to keep any journalist going. Lekovic is
the 1997-98 Daily Bruin editor in chief. She is a thrid-year
English student.

Edina Lekovic