Yes, we’ve heard about J.J., but …
A few people have asked me today whether we’re going to do a story on J.J. Redick’s reported arrest. My answer, which I think has surprised them, is “Why would we?”
In the last few years, the DTH has made strides toward becoming more of a local newspaper — reducing our coverage of national issues, which you can get elsewhere (and better than we could ever possibly do it), and increasing our coverage of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the surrounding area. In other words, we’ve focused more on our franchise: covering things that only papers based in this area would cover.
Personally, I think we could do a better job of covering the group that’s even more local to us than Chapel Hill — the University. I’d like for us to ratchet up our coverage of campus minority issues and campus organizations, in particular — something we’re trying to do this summer with articles, for example, about Project Uplift and a piece planned on the campus NAACP’s summer registration drive.
Why? Because if we don’t cover these groups, nobody else is going to.
The DTH has done a good job, I think, in improving and augmenting its coverage of Orange County. It’s a valuable service, and often, we’ve actually beaten the two professional newspapers in the area to stories.
But I don’t think of the papers in Raleigh and Durham as competitors. That’s because we have a unique niche: UNC. Nobody covers the University quite like we do, and for that matter, our coverage of other issues (whether it’s the state budget or the Town Council) also reflects the fact that we are a student newspaper with an office in the Student Union. Carolina’s our bread and butter.
Former Duke basketball players, on the other hand? Everyone is covering those guys. And by the time we publish a print edition Thursday, J.J.’s legal woes will be old news — and, perhaps, the schadenfreude will have worn off a bit.
Anyone who cares about Mr. Redick’s troubles is going to hear about it elsewhere — and isn’t going to get a unique perspective on the issue from the DTH. You’ll see it in our pages, but as a brief.
-Chris Coletta, Summer Editor