Welcome back!   We would like to extend a special welcome to the new Jan. starts and transfer students: we hope that The Pioneer will be a useful tool that will help you engage and explore Whitman.

To start off, let us mention that at the end of last semester we were rehired for the 2009 calendar year.   Both of us are very excited about our expanded opportunity to work with The Pioneer and Whitman community and have many new projects in store for this semester.

The first major change you may notice in The Pioneer is fewer sections.   In an effort to streamline our organization and improve coverage, we have condensed sections.   The current sections include News, Arts & Entertainment, Feature, Sports, Op-Ed, Humor and Perspectives. While there are fewer sections than in the past, the newspaper will remain at 28 pages, and will contain the same amount of coverage of community, politics and outdoors issues as there were last semester.

We have also begun drafting a Code of Ethics for The Pioneer to reflect current needs. Our Code of Ethics will be a document that outlines the ethical responsibilities our staff has to the community and its readers. This Code of Ethics will serve us in times when we deal with sensitive or controversial issues, and we will refer to it to ensure we are achieving our expressed goals and ideals.

Another change we have adopted is a no-prior review policy. This policy states that articles cannot be distributed in their entirety before the paper goes to print. We hope that the no-prior review policy will protect the quality and angle of each article, as well as ensure independence. Even though sources will no longer be able to view articles before publication, they will still be given an opportunity to view all quotes and sentiments attributed to them. To ensure that we still achieve accuracy, we have purchased voice recorders that reporters are encouraged to use during interviews. These recorders are not to “catch” anyone saying anything they might regret, but simply to ensure the correctness of the article.   No-prior review policies are standard journalistic procedure and we hope the community will support us in our efforts to improve our professionalism.

An additional check we have created to improve quality and professionalism is to hire a Director of Writing (a position filled this term by Gillian Frew). This position is responsible for ensuring the writing quality in each article, as well as overseeing our Medica Visiting Journalist Series. We are currently communicating with several renowned journalists who we hope will be visiting campus this semester.

Out of all the changes we have made for this semester, we are most excited about our new Web site, whitmanpioneer.com, which is launching today. The Web site has blogging and video capabilities, and features photo galleries, polls, and instant weather updates. We hope the new site will increase accessibility and readership, as well as promote discussion among the Whitman community.   Please visit it and let us know of any suggestions you may have.

Suggestions regarding the Web site or other aspects of the newspaper can be raised during our weekly office hours on Mondays from 4 to 5 p.m.   We hope that this will promote discussion and communication between The Pioneer and community and encourage anyone to stop by and share their feedback with us.

– Jamie Soukup and Kim Sommers, Editors-in-Chief