By any measure, the past volume of The Daily has proved to be an extraordinary success. Stanford’s Paper of Record has been complete, honest, relevant and fair.

Most of all, it has been a tremendous place to come to work every day. I have heard the newsroom compared to the salons of Enlightened France, the cafeterias of Google and the common room of a fraternity. None of these quite captures the essence, the veritable je ne sais quoi, of the place.

The Daily is the best place to learn, hang out, and work on campus. Young professionals develop their craft as they chow down on Chinese food and pizza. We get the paper to the presses, and then use the rush of energy after deadline to study. Day after day, we’re there to support each other in the serious work we do. Even though it’s sure to cause collective eye rolling (especially among those who work here), I’ll say what I think The Daily really is: a family.

What motivates us day after day? It’s not the pay, trust me. It’s not seeing our names in the paper, though I cannot speak for everyone. It’s not to impress attractive members of the opposite sex, although I hear The Daily works wonders as a pickup line. It’s the pride that comes with exploring issues, events and people no one else is covering in an incisive way.

When readers pick up The Daily, they know they can trust what’s in these pages. Student blogs and sideshow newsletters will come and go, but The Daily will thrive as readers continue demanding credible reporting. This student-run non profit is a public trust. The institution’s true power and influence are derived from the widespread support and mandate of our many readers, sources and benefactors.

We’re continuing to raise the bar. Across the board, from sports to layout to graphics to opinions, great editors and reporters made great contributions. It’s hard for me to name one without naming a dozen more. So many people made important commitments that resulted in a material improvement of quality, but some of our concrete achievements since January include:

Debuting Page Two: We introduced a features page that includes the most comprehensive daily calendar on campus and showcases up-and-coming Daily talent.

Stronger copy editing: A visionary copy chief assembled a crack team of fact checkers and word sticklers. Being more careful and thorough has cut down on the number of errors and corrections, which has improved our credibility as a whole.

More transparency: We added contact information for every writer at the end of every staff-produced story. By putting graduation years next to names being quoted, we make past or present affiliation with Stanford clearer.

An almost paperless newsroom: The amount of printing done in the office dropped to almost nothing on the first night of the volume when we rolled out a new web-based workflow software that allows editors to interact online and review copy in real time without printouts. It’s environmentally conscious and saves time.

Catering to our online readers’ needs: Last month, we rolled out podcasting, videocasting and photo slideshows. There are other new features that have helped our Web site (www.stanforddaily.com) recapture its place as one of the best among college papers.

Facilitating campus dialogue: The Daily broke the story of Azia Kim, the high school graduate who posed as a Stanford student for eight months. The revelation that men’s swim coach Skip Kenney deleted the records of swimmers from the media guide, first revealed in The Daily, led to a public outcry and his suspension. In light of graduate student Mengyao ‘May’ Zhou’s apparent suicide in January, our reporters brought you tasteful and sensitive stories which professionally dealt with the stigma surrounding mental health and the so-called “Stanford Duck Syndrome.”

My successor, Nick Parker, shares my enthusiasm and transformative vision for The Daily. As managing editor of news this volume, he cut down on uninteresting event recap coverage to focus on enterprise, feature and analysis pieces that tell a story, add an extra level of depth and provide important narrative. He has already assembled a top-notch team, and he’s asked me to serve as his online editor, responsible for making multimedia a more central part of what we do.

It was a great year, but next year will be even better. There is much work to do, and there is always room for self improvement. It’s a learning process, and we’ll keep moving forward.

Sincerely,

James P. Hohmann

Editor in Chief, Volume 231