Cynicism is a curious thing. As college students from the millennial generation, we tend to mistrust on instinct &- authority, bureaucracy, things that seem too good to be true. And at The Daily Free Press, it’s our duty as journalists to be skeptical at least. If we didn’t view everything that happens at this university and in this city with a healthy degree of doubt, we wouldn’t be able to do the reporting that we do. We ask everyone, writers and readers alike, to look critically at their world all the time.
Our best stories aren’t always the happiest ones. This semester, we’ve had to contend with sexual assaults, tuition hikes, Senate shockers and athletics scandals. But we’d rather run a grim headline than turn a blind eye in the name of idealism, optimism or, heaven forbid, public relations. We can’t be afraid to report tough stories just because we might wish things were better.
I’ve always considered myself to be a cynical person, and I’ve tried this semester to turn that attitude into one I can work with journalistically, one of constant, educated questioning of what’s going on around me. But at the helm of The Free Press, I’ve learned that though it’s easy and habitual to doubt, I don’t always have to do so. This semester, I’ve seen people rise to the occasion in ways I never imagined. This staff has done amazing work. So many times when I thought we were doomed, when I was ready to wallow in disappointment or lose faith in the paper, someone was there to remind me that people really are capable of great things even in the worst of circumstances.
I’m so proud of the work we’ve done and how far we’ve come since January. Spring 2010 staff, you kept me sane, even when the paper was driving me a little insane. You are the reason I believe in this newspaper and the students at this school.
It’s simple, really, but it never ceases to amaze me: The most important thing you can do is work hard and be nice to people, and in journalism the most important thing is to never stop questioning. And when you have 30 kids who believe devoutly in those principles and who want to bring them to the newsroom every night, magical things will happen. They’ve been happening, in fact, for 40 years next Wednesday.
All semester, we’ve been working in the shadow of those 40 years &- years that have seen some of the biggest stories any journalist would ever cover, that have seen huge changes at this university and that have seen a steady upswing in the struggles the news industry faces. It’s hard to look back and remember what we used to have, knowing that we can’t have it anymore, not quite the same way, anyway. But we keep working because we have no other choice, and because we feel passionately that we are doing something real and important here, something that BU needs. I said at the beginning of the semester that we will survive because we have to. I know now that we’ll thrive, too.
Thanks for reading this semester, BU, and happy 40th birthday, Daily Free Press. Many happy returns.
-Annie Ropeik
Spring 2010 Editor-in-chief
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