NEWS
Monday, February 16, 2004
Daily Abolishes Jeopardy Issue "As We Know It"I suspect the many responses they received over their "Three Snobs Slain outside of Ricks" story might have something to do with this decision. Here's a staff-wide email sent by current Daily editor-in-chief Jordan Schrader:
"Date: Sunday, February 15, 2004 7:23 PM -0500
From: jtschrad@umich.edu
To: daily.staff@umich.edu
Subject: Jeopardy
Staff:
As some of you have already heard, what came out of our 2-hour M-Desk meeting today was a decision to end the Jeopardy issue as we know it. We will still have a Jeopardy party and an issue with senior goodbyes, and we will talk about how we can have fun with the issue. But there will be no fake stories. There will be nothing in the edition that would be inappropriate to run on any other day.
It's hard to feel too happy about this. I for one have been waiting three years for my turn to work on a Jeopardy issue. Every inside joke, every grudge, everything that can't make it into the paper, has gone into a Jeopardy file in the back of my mind. Many other editors feel similarly, as do many of you.
But continuing the spoof issue for these reasons would be selfish. As selfish as working for an entire year to build up the reputation of the Daily, to leave it better than we found it, and then firing a parting shot behind us that undoes everything we have accomplished.
We have a responsibility beyond our own whims and grievances, beyond our desire to talk about supersluts and presidential masturbation. We have a responsibility to the people who have come before us for 113 years and to those who will follow us for the next 113. And we have a responsibility to our readers - to tell them the truth.
I'd like to hear what all of you think about this. Don't hesitate to talk to me - you know where I'll be.
Jordan"
There is, in fact a website dedicated to publishing internal media memos: the "memos" portion of Jim Romenesko's media blog.
More Daily stuff:
> Letter to the editor about a sloppy headline
> Feedback from an editor of the Daily in the mid 1980s
> Sampling of feedback from jeopardy story
> New Daily editorial page editor Jason Pesick likening student activists to administrators
> The Daily's Gold Circle awards history
> My post on the Jeopardy issue
Posted by Rob at 11:55 AM
