Every year before spring break, The Daily Illini’s staff hands its responsibilities to a new group of editors.

It’s increasingly clear to us that trust in the media nationwide is faltering, while the need for accurate reporting is increasing. For years, there is one area where The Daily Illini has fallen behind: providing coverage of everyone in the community.

As our readers have pointed out, we haven’t always given both sides of an issue equal voice. We’ve put certain groups in the forefront and left a noticeable gap. This year, I am committed to the concentrated effort of reaching out beyond what we’ve done before.

Last year, we increased our Greek community coverage, but clearly this is not enough. There are so many other groups on campus who need to have their voices heard and deserve the same attention.

This will include the addition of op-eds. We recognize that there are divisive issues that need to be covered by our opinions staff, but our staff lacks the background to make a counterpoint. To include this viewpoint, we’ll be reaching out to more suited members of campus who want to contribute.

We’ll continue our attentive coverage of breaking news, including the near-constant hirings and firings within the administration and athletics — the men’s and women’s basketball hirings already occurred immediately after turnover. We strive to be your source for breaking news on campus by providing fast and accurate updates to ongoing stories.

As with the past few years, we’re continuing to improve how you interact with the news we bring you. The way news is delivered is constantly changing, so we’re making ourselves more available on social media and updating our website so it’s easier to find the news you need.

Journalism isn’t just about written articles. We’re adding more on-air stories and increasing our video production to give you more ways to find out what’s going on. We’ll be broadcasting Friday nights at 6:00 p.m. on our radio affiliate, WPGU.

All of these improvements will have a focus on outreach. If you couldn’t make it our few info nights a semester, you’ll still be able to apply year-round through our website. Good journalism relies on varied perspectives, so any student in any college is welcome to apply.

Please, continue to keep us accountable for missteps. We want to be as transparent and accessible as possible.

Even though our staff is in new positions, we’ve been here through the last year’s ups and downs and have learned from them because of your feedback.

I’m so excited to work with my staff to bring you even better coverage of what matters most to you and the community as a whole.

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