LSU’s football team and women’s outdoor track and field teams aren’t the only groups on campus that captured national championships this past year.The Daily Reveille’s Web site finished No. 1, too.Editor & Publisher magazine named lsureveille.com the best collegiate newspaper Web site in the country in late May. The site edged out other finalists — student newspaper Web sites at Arizona State University and the University of Indiana. Other Web sites recognized by E&P include the www.nytimes.com, www.usatoday.com and www.msnbc.com.Pretty good company.The actual award means little to this newspaper. It’s a clear plastic plaque sitting on my desk. If you want to see it, just drop by.The real reward is knowing our newsgathering organization is leading the way for online journalism, which is realistically the future of newspapers.But we’re not stopping there.If you go to our Web site today, you’ll see a brand new interface for lsureveille.com.Hopefully.Technology has its way of screwing up plans sometimes.You’ll notice in the next few weeks we hope to bust at the seams with content. We’re adding an interactive crime map which will compile the locations of crime on campus. We’re adding a faculty salary database in case you ever wondered how much your professor is getting paid. We’re also putting more emphasis on photos and videos.And more additions will be implemented as the semester progresses.It’s all part of our vision to be an information hub — a place everyone will go to find anything and everything about LSU and the surrounding area.The award is also a testament to this staff’s dedication. This newspaper employs more than 100 of the University’s hardest-working students on campus, not just in the newsroom, but also in the circulation and advertising departments.Those newspapers don’t magically appear in the racks at 7:30 a.m., and those ads you love so much don’t sell themselves.The Daily Reveille takes shots from every direction constantly — “You missed this fact; you spelled this wrong; you misattributed this quote,” etc.Those complaints are usually valid. We are a learning institution. And we’re human, too.But it’s not every day this staff garners the sort of national recognition it won.And our print edition isn’t doing half bad either. It’s ranked No. 11 in the nation by Princeton Review.But to keep our products at a high level, we need your help. We need you — our readers — to keep holding us accountable, to point out our mistakes, and to let us know when we’re missing things.We’re glad to serve the student body at this “damn strong” institution.”Have a great day.”—-Contact Kyle Whitfield [email protected]
The Daily Reveille sets the pace in digital age
August 24, 2008