University of Virginia Library

To Our Angry Readers

At any one time a sizeable portion of our
readership is angry over a story we printed or
failed to print, over our fuzzy photos or poor
proofreading, a subscription paid for and not
sent, or any of a dozen or so mistakes we
commit regularly. Most of that anger is
expressed through letters and telephone calls
to the editors. A large portion of these letters
are anonymous and therefore we are not given
the opportunity to explain or defend our
decisions. The telephone calls come at all
hours of the day and night and sometimes our
staff members are not as patient or willing to
explain something to a 3 a.m. caller as
perhaps they ought to be.

We spend a great deal of our time trying to
assuage these angry people, believe it or not.
We really don't want anyone upset with us.
But if this newspaper never upset anyone,
then we would not have a very high opinion
of our work either.

In any event there are things a person who
disagrees with us can do. He can ask us for an
explanation. Many of our mistakes are not
intentional and have a simple explanation. A
great many people fail to ask us why we did
or did not do something. A letter to the
editor, demanding either an explanation or
for publication is another means to let us
know of any displeasure. We try and print all
letters to the editor, but sometimes they
arrive in such large amounts that we do not
have the space to print all. If you are a
student you have an excellent avenue to
change the policies of this newspaper open to
you: join the staff. With any luck you will rise
to an editorial position and can then do things
your own way.

But if you have no desire to join the staff,
or you do not think we have responded
adequately to your gripe, you can take your
complaint to a group of students whom the
Board of Visitors has given the responsibility
for assuring that we adhere to "high
journalistic and ethical standards." The Board
of Directors of The Cavalier Daily is made up
of the vice presidents of the various schools of
the University. They meet each month of the
academic year and hold an open meeting
every other month to which members of the
community are invited if they have a complaint
or suggestion to make about any aspect of
this newspaper's operation.

Our Board of Directors, if they agree with
a student, group of students, student
organization or faculty member that The
Cavalier Daily has intentionally violated any
provision of the Code of Journalistic Ethics
which they have established can punish any or
all members of the newspaper's managing
board. They can issue a letter of censure,
suspend an editor's salary, or, if they receive a
petition signed by enough students, dismiss an
editor.

This Wednesday evening, at 8:30, the
Board of Directors will meet in the Honor
Committee Room, fourth floor of Newcomb
Hall. The Board will consider any grievance at
that time.

If you believe that The Cavalier Daily has
not been responsible and have not been
placated by the staff, be there. We certainly
will attend.