In addition to this regular evolution, sometime in the middle of next semester, the paper will switch to a narrower layout that has become the standard collegiate and commercial format. Each page will be slightly more than 1 inch slimmer but still will contain six columns of text.
Both The (Durham) Herald-Sun and The (Raleigh) News & Observer already have rolled out this new look. Implemented to combat the rising price of newsprint, the narrower format is widely called more reader-friendly. Those who think so, however, did not grow up folding papers like accordions to read them on constricted subways and commuter trains. In that context, wider is indeed better.
The paper's design editors, Beth Buchholz and Tiffany Pease, are leading a redesign of the DTH to accompany the narrower page size. Different fonts and a revised front-page format will be part of the paper's new face.
None of these changes is likely to please critics of the DTH, who say that the hiring process ensures incubation of longstanding attitudes and that layout is the least of the paper's problems. Managing Editor Alex Kaplun, who leads the paper's community relation efforts, says, "It's been a quiet semester regarding campus outcry toward the DTH."
After seven semesters at the paper, Kaplun probably doesn't see this semester's accusations of incompetence, political bias and hostility toward various campus communities as standing out.
Newspapers often draw deserved criticism, but they face the unique challenge of serving an audience with a much broader ideological range than most other media outlets.
The number of Americans who consider President Bush among the world's vilest humans probably equals the number who view former President Clinton as Satan. These groups can -- and do -- access magazines, radio stations and Internet news sites that casually or overtly cater to their points of view. To their constant annoyance, however, they must often read the same newspaper.
Some readers, however, praise The Daily Tar Heel. Assistant Professor Chris Roush, who joined the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication this year, calls the DTH "one of the finest college papers in the country." Roush, who served as editor of The Auburn Plainsman in 1986-87, says the DTH's coverage of university and town affairs sets it apart from most student papers. "I can get everything I want in the DTH," he says. This breadth of coverage also alienates some student readers, who often don't see the relevance to campus life of staff salary negotiations or disputes over town regulations.
The explosion of up-to-the-minute news options has lead commentators to proclaim the looming obsolescence of printed newspapers. And daily paper readership has been declining for decades. Students keep signing up to work for the DTH, however, and seeking leadership positions at the paper. Which presents a final question: Why do dozens of students spend much of their college career in a rank corner of the Student Union? The paper's editors seem to spend eight to 10 hours a day Sunday through Friday in the DTH newsroom or otherwise working on the paper.
