Rolly C. Miller, The Chronicle's online archivist, has made it clear that he hates the three flights of stairs leading to the office more than anything else.
We always try to make him see the advantages of being located in 301 Flowers. We tell him we are within spitting distance of the best eateries on campus and our sources (not that we actually spit on either). We show him our panoramic view of the central hub on campus.
The 25-year staff-box legend-usually still huffing and puffing-always dismisses our assertions. He's heard the arguments before, he wheezes, and again claims the worst part of The Chronicle is that we are too many flights of stairs above campus.
In some ways, his comments are true of all journalism institutions across the country. Our responsibility to be the gatekeepers of news, deciding everyday what we think is important, sometimes isolates us from the community in our tower above the quad.
Enter The Blogger on DukeChronicle.com.
Our hope is that through this tool we can give readers a peek into our world, accomplishing this through explaining editorial decisions and giving you new perspectives on sports and news stories you won't read in our newsprint.
Want to know why we ran an Associated Press story about the men's basketball team's win against BC?
Want to hear editor-in-chief Ryan McCartney's tale about travelling down Tobacco Road to deliver dozens of copies of our defaced paper last week?
Want to hear the process of how a story idea developed into a full-blown article?
Check out the blog.
We hope this tool can be used to break down the walls between writers and readers, and to bring us down from our 301 Flowers office.
Sorry Rolly... only symbolically.
Steve Veres
Online Editor, The Chronicle
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