The Michigan Daily

Front page view of the November 1, 2019 edition
Type	Student newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
School	University of Michigan
Editor-in-chief	Samantha Rich, Dana Elobaid
Managing editor	Shania Baweja, Abby Schreck
General manager	Kathy Ciesinski
News editor	Riley Hodder, Rachel Mintz
Opinion editor	Zhane Yamin, Lindsey Spencer
Sports editor	Rekha Leonard, Noah Kingsley
Photo editor	Lila Turner, Grace Lahti
Web editor	Jacob Kim, Anushka Raheja
Founded	September 29, 1890 (1890-09-29)
Language	English
Headquarters	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Circulation	7,500
ISSN	0745-967X
OCLC number	9651208
Website	michigandaily.com

The Michigan Daily, nicknamed 'The Daily,' is the independent student newspaper of the University of Michigan.

Established on September 29, 1890, the newspaper is financially and editorially independent from the university. It the largest independent student newspaper in the United States, produced by over 500 undergraduate students. The Daily is managed by two editors-in-chief and a business manager. The current editors-in-chief are Samantha Rich and Dana Elobaid, who were elected in November 2023.^[1]

The Michigan Daily is the only daily newspaper in Washtenaw County, Michigan^[2] and has consistently been ranked among the top college newspapers in the country.^[3]

Former editors and columnists of the paper include politicians, federal judges, and journalists at publications like CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and seven Pullitzer Prize winners. The Michigan Daily was awarded the 2023 Pacemaker Award in online media, the highest award in college journalism.^[4]

History

First issue of The Daily in 1890

In 1952, the Soviet delegate to the United Nations, F. A. Novikov, singled out the newspaper as emblematic of American warmongering. On April 12, 1955, when the success of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was announced at the University of Michigan the Daily was the first newspaper to report it. In 1957, the Daily sent a staff member to Little Rock, Arkansas who, pretending to be a student, attended classes on the first day of integration.

Activist and politician Tom Hayden, a former Daily editor in chief who helped found Students for a Democratic Society while editing the Daily, came to personify the publication's editorial philosophy during the 1960s. The paper was the subject of national press coverage when, in 1967, it urged the legalization of marijuana, and again during the Gulf War in 1991, when it called for the reinstatement of the military draft.

The Daily was instrumental in the spread of the Paul is dead urban legend. An October 14, 1969 Daily article by Fred LaBour and John Gray, entitled "McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought to Light", itemized various "clues", many of them of their own invention. Their "reporting" of McCartney's death is claimed by Beatleologist Andru J. Reeve to have been "the single most significant factor in the breadth of the rumor's spread."^[5][6]

The first female editor-in-chief of The Daily was Harriett Woods, who later served in Missouri State government, ran for the Senate twice in the 1980s nearly beating John Danforth the first time, and led the National Women's Political Caucus through its Year of the Woman in 1992.

On January 28, 2014, the Daily earned national recognition for breaking news that a Michigan football player had been separated from the university for sexual misconduct.

Overview

The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the university's administration and other student groups, but shares a university building with other student publications on 420 Maynard Street, north of the Michigan Union. The Daily acts as the university's de facto journalism school.

In 2007, renovations to the historic building at 420 Maynard were completed, funded entirely by private donations from alumni. To dedicate the renovated building, a reunion of the staffs of The Michigan Daily, the Michiganensian yearbook, and the Gargoyle Humor Magazine was held on October 26–28, 2007.

The Michigan Daily is published weekly in broadsheet form during the fall and winter semesters and in tabloid form from May to August. Broadsheets contain a lengthy SportsWednesday Sports section and occasionally an extended, themed issue called The B-Side from the Arts section. They also include a magazine, originally titled Weekend Magazine. In the fall of 2005, the magazine was renamed The Statement, a reference to former editor-in-chief Tom Hayden's Port Huron Statement. School year circulation is 7,500 copies per day. It has over 230,000 unique visitors per month to its website.

Following the closure of The Ann Arbor News in July 2009,^[7] The Michigan Daily became the only printed daily newspaper published in Washtenaw County.^[8]

Notable alumni

Thomas Dewey, 47th governor of New York

Many columnists and editors from The Daily have gone to hold prominent positions in government, journalism, and more. Alumni include playwright Arthur Miller, 47th governor of New York and presidential candidate Thomas Dewey, activist Tom Hayden, investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, journalist and physician Sanjay Gupta, former chairman of American Airlines George A. Spater, journalist and game show host Mike Wallace, actor Robert Vaughn, and former lieutenant governor of Missouri Harriett Woods.

Notable journalists and writers include Pullitzer Prize winners Amy Harmon of The New York Times, Ann Marie Lipinski of the Chicago Tribune, Lisa Pollak of The Baltimore Sun, and Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post. Others include Stephen Henderson, Arthur Miller, and more.

Awards won by The Daily include the 2023 National Pacemaker Award in online media,^[9] 22 awards from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2020 and 2021,^[10][11] and 14 awards from the Michigan College Press Association in 2018.^[12]

References

External links

• Official website