Q&A: In transition, The Daily leadership turns the page toward a more cohesive newsroom

Eliza Martin, Assistant Audio Editor

March 11, 2026

The Daily Northwestern · Q&A: In transition, The Daily leadership turns the page toward a more cohesive newsroom

EMILY LICHTY: I am Emily Lichty and I am the outgoing Editor in Chief of The Daily Northwestern.

ANAVI PRAKASH: I’m Anavi Prakash and I’m the incoming Editor in Chief of The Daily Northwestern.

ELIZA MARTIN: In the spring quarter, Medill and SESP junior Anavi Prakash is set to take over as Daily Northwestern editor in chief from Medill senior Emily Lichty, who has served in the role since Fall Quarter. I sat down with Prakash and Lichty to discuss their goals, initiatives, the transition between editors and where The Daily is headed next.

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ELIZA MARTIN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Eliza Martin. This is a Q&A with outgoing Daily Editor in Chief Emily Lichty and incoming Daily Editor in Chief Anavi Prakash.

Emily, what have been your main goals and initiatives during your time as EIC?

EMILY LICHTY: I’ve seen a lot of different goals through throughout my two quarters, and a lot of them have popped up naturally. Some of them have been goals that I have set for myself, but our primary goal is to keep the paper thriving, its day-to-day operations going.

A lot of these goals are unchanging, EIC to EIC, so, you know, just making sure we’re putting out high-quality, reliable coverage, promoting a really healthy newsroom environment. Those, first and foremost, are my goals, what I want to see through. And then everything on top of that is extra. It’s fun, it’s exciting, kind of our new initiatives and projects.

So, to touch on a few of them, I think one of them was the establishment of our solutions journalism desk, which was through a grant we received from the Solutions Journalism Network, and that has been a really exciting project to see through. We’ve put out a few solutions stories that have made it on to the Solutions Journalism (Story) Tracker, which has been really exciting.

We’ve seen a lot of exciting growth of our multimedia desks, a lot of interest there, and that’s something I would love to see continue in future quarters. We’ve seen growth on social media, which has been really exciting. Especially our Instagram has been something I’ve been really focused on. We’ve put out special issues, including Best of Evanston, our Know Your Rights issue, Election Preview, Spring Sports Preview. So that was something I really wanted to focus on, too.

It’s been a really exciting two quarters. And so those are a few of the things that we’ve been working on.

ELIZA MARTIN: And can you describe the main roles of The Daily Northwestern’s editor in chief? I know you touched on broader initiatives, but what are your duties day to day?

EMILY LICHTY: Day-to-day, the editor in chief oversees all content that goes through The Daily Northwestern. So I think probably, like the first thing that they’re really focused on is editing and doing a final review of literally everything that we put out. So that’s every article, every brief, every podcast, every video for Instagram. So that is kind of the first responsibility. And then on top of that, there is the people management side. So selecting edit board, training, onboarding edit board and then overseeing, just like how everything is going in the newsroom, day to day.

And then I’d say kind of next is those special projects, working one-on-one with people and desk editors to put in new initiatives, start new desks, complete new roles. So I think those are kind of the main responsibilities, but obviously, stuff pops up, day to day, breaking news happens. Other you know, exciting projects or initiatives pop up. The editor in chief is really, you know, the face of the paper in a lot of ways.

ELIZA MARTIN: For both of you, how does the transition between editors work?

EMILY LICHTY: So, The Daily has so much turnover. You know, quarter by quarter we’re switching editor positions, and every two quarters we’re switching editor in chief, which for me can feel like a long time. For some people can feel like, “Literally I started the job two weeks ago.” So I think that’s the beauty of The Daily, is that it’s kind of second nature for us now to be transitioning editor roles. I mean, this isn’t the only role that has a lot of responsibility that gets passed down. So I think that is something where it’s like, it’s not as daunting of a thing to pass stuff down.

And I feel like every editor brings in their own perspective, their own things they want to change, and their own knowledge of the newspaper, that there really isn’t that much that I feel like beyond those kind of day-to-day things that really need to be passed down, because I already feel like she’s pretty ready.

ANAVI PRAKASH: I will say I, just in all of the positions I’ve held at The Daily, have really enjoyed the transition process, because either if I’m the one passing down a role or getting it from someone else, it’s really a time for the new editor to really think about their ideas for a position and what they want to bring to the table in that role, while also having the outgoing editor there for support and to just run ideas by and kind of have that background of, “Oh, this is what should be continuing from quarter to quarter, but here’s how you can also incorporate new ideas.”

ELIZA MARTIN: Anavi, what do you hope to accomplish as editor in chief?

ANAVI PRAKASH: Well, a few of the main reasons I applied for the role is really mostly to bridge this kind of gap that we have between the print and multimedia sides at The Daily. If you come to the newsroom, there’s a physical divide in that we have separate rooms for both sides of the paper. But I think also, because we put out a weekly print paper, there is a lot of emphasis placed on the writing and our print desks, which is great, and I don’t want to change that, but I would also like to have more multimedia components, whether that be with print stories, or maybe put a few (photo) galleries in the print paper. That would be cool to just have more visuals and really showcase everything that all of our desks have to offer equally.

ELIZA MARTIN: Going along with that, how does your multimedia background shape the way you approach this job?

ANAVI PRAKASH: Having done both multimedia and print is a unique thing at The Daily so far, which hopefully will change in the future. But I think it just helps me understand how both sides can work together more. For example, when I was city editor last quarter, we did a few stories that had audio and video embeds in them. So it was a print story, but there were those heavy multimedia components, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever, because it bridged two things that I really like.

And, honestly, just being there as a person who knows both sides of things, because I think part of that divide — and it’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just how people’s experiences work — is there is that mismatch of communication in that the people who are largely in charge don’t get it all the time, or don’t understand how to edit things specifically, and that comes with experience in those things. So hopefully that will also help.

ELIZA MARTIN: What have you learned from watching Emily over the last couple of quarters?

ANAVI PRAKASH: I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is really just how to be a good leader of a paper. I think one thing that Emily has done in the last two quarters that I really hope I can continue is hearing people’s big ideas out, and hopefully saying yes to them in a way that makes it work for the paper and also honors the idea that this person came up with.

The Daily is a really cool place, because we’re a student paper and we do awesome work, but it’s also a place where you can bring in new ideas and try things where it’s low risk, high reward, if it works out. I really want people to feel comfortable, no matter if they’re a senior staffer and they’ve been here their whole time or they’re just starting out at The Daily, to really be able to bring their ideas to the forefront and just improve our coverage. And I think that’s something Emily has always fostered a space for.

ELIZA MARTIN: And Emily, what makes you excited about having Anavi as your successor?

EMILY LICHTY: There are a lot of things. A part of it is what she was talking about with the multimedia side of things at The Daily. I think it’ll be rare going forward to not have an editor in chief who doesn’t have experience in both multimedia and print, and I have limited multimedia experience. We’ve still been able to see some growth over the past two quarters, but I think that is one thing I’m really excited to see grow at The Daily.

I think another thing is, you know, working closely with Anavi over the past two quarters, I’ve seen the positive energy and the enthusiasm she brings to the newsroom, and seeing how excited everybody is in the newsroom for her to take on the role. I truly could not be leaving The Daily in a better place.

ELIZA MARTIN: And lastly, Anavi, are there any things that readers can look forward to in the upcoming spring quarters? Do we have any special things that come out in the spring that you’re already looking ahead to?

ANAVI PRAKASH: One thing I didn’t mention in my previous answer was we are also going to launch a Spanish coverage desk, so there will be bilingual coverage at The Daily, which has already started this quarter, but hopefully will be more prominent next quarter, and as we build that up. So that’s really exciting, because there is a large portion, especially of the Evanston community, that speaks Spanish, and so really making sure our news and our coverage gets to everyone in our community is key. So that’ll be really exciting.

And then at the end of the quarter — this is not mine, this is Emily’s again — but the big graduation issue for all of the seniors, so that’s always really fun, especially for me, who is not a senior, to see. Just because it’s full of reflections from past staffers at The Daily, and so just seeing what they’ve learned over the years and what advice they have to pass on is fun for Daily staffers, of course, because we all know them and love them. But I think also for just the greater community, their advice goes beyond the newsroom, so it’ll be exciting to see what everyone has to say.

ELIZA MARTIN: Well, thanks guys, for coming on the pod.
ANAVI PRAKASH: Thank you for having us.

EMILY LICHTY: Thank you so much for having us.

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ELIZA MARTIN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Eliza Martin. Thanks for listening to this special Q&A podcast episode. This episode was reported by and produced by me, Eliza Martin.

The Audio Editor is Ruby Dowling. The Multimedia Managing Editors are Femi Horrall, Yong-Yu Huang and Jonah McClure. The Editor in Chief is Emily Lichty.

Email: [email protected]