Last year, the Yale Daily News became one of the first undergraduate newspapers to include public editors on its board. The Public Editors are independent voices set to ensure that the News is living up to its journalistic standards. The public editors also aim to liaise between the newsroom and its audience, serving as a representative of the News’ readers.

Because the role is only in its second year, the public editors’ responsibilities within the News are still evolving as we determine how we can most impactfully fulfill our mission. This year’s public editors hope to expand our footprint within the News. At the beginning of the current board year, the public editors assumed the responsibility of training new reporters to ensure that every student writing for the News is equipped with the tools to report responsibly, thoroughly and in accordance with journalistic standards. 

We have also outlined additional projects to which we hope to devote our time. Firstly and most importantly, we are undertaking the task of creating a Yale Daily News code of ethics that will help guide the News’ content. We hope that this code of ethics will allow the News to remain consistent, fair, truthful and empathetic in its coverage and our readers to have a clear understanding of the quality of journalism they should expect.

Secondly, the public editors will write columns that aim to critically evaluate the News’ coverage. The goal of the columns is twofold: externally, we want to help our readers better understand the News and its decisions; internally, we hope to foster critical dialogue on the News’ own decisions and help the organization better understand itself.

As individuals with experience working at the News, we understand the challenges and stress that contributors, staffers and editors face when putting together a paper each day. Jose Davila IV and Phoebe Liu both served as managing editors on last year’s managing board, where they were responsible for overseeing daily content and helmed a remote workflow system in a year of virtual production. Prior to that, Davila reported on Yale-New Haven relations for the City desk, and Liu previously reported on the School of Music for the Arts desk and wrote personal essays for the WKND desk. Julia Bialek most recently served as a staff reporter, where she covered student policy & affairs for the University Desk. Prior to that, she reported on campus politics. The public editors no longer serve in these roles, and although we are technically part of the managing board, we operate independently from the newsroom.

You can reach us at our email: publiceditors@yaledailynews.com. We look forward to reading your feedback, questions and suggestions.

Jose Davila IV, Phoebe Liu and Julia Bialek are the News’ public editors.