Copies of The Daily Northwestern’s Oct. 23 issue were found covered by imitation front pages on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. We understand the page has confused, shocked and angered some readers.
The Daily’s staff did not have any prior knowledge of or involvement in these tampered print newspapers, nor their distribution to newsstands and classrooms across Northwestern’s campus. The editorial board did not endorse or authorize any content in the imitated issues.
Despite not originating from our newsroom, the fake pages have understandably caused community members to question our credibility and diminished trust in our publication.
We want to make clear: The Daily is committed to independent journalism and sharing community members’ stories with accuracy, nuance and precision.
We hope readers will understand that the tampered papers do not represent our publication and in no way indicate a stance from The Daily on the Israel-Hamas conflict. We strive to cover how the conflict impacts community members throughout our city and campus without bias.
As a newsroom committed to covering the NU and Evanston communities accurately and precisely, The Daily does not take official stances on political or social issues. Outside parties do not direct our coverage, nor do they inhibit our commitment to earnestly report on the community.
To give more context on The Daily’s commitment to editorial independence, we’d also like to explain our relationship with the University and with the Students Publishing Company, our parent organization, who has also issued a statement. SPC’s board — composed of students, faculty and alumni — oversees financial operations for The Daily, including alumni fundraising and advertisements, among other responsibilities that our editorial staff do not participate in. They are not involved in our editorial content.
In addition, The Daily is an independently run student newspaper, meaning neither the University nor the Medill School of Journalism have any say in our coverage and editorial decisions.
As a fully student-run publication, The Daily is dedicated to covering how ongoing events are impacting different students and communities on campus, approaching those experiences in a sensitive way. Over the past two weeks, The Daily has covered several student-led vigils and rallies and reported on the administration’s response to the war, and we will continue to keep the community informed on newsworthy developments on campus.
We hope this incident does not prevent community members from trusting our publication and our reporters. Our community will always come first.
This piece represents the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Northwestern. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members or editorial board members of The Daily Northwestern.
