From the Daily Northwestern, I'm Mika Ellison. This is The Weekly, a podcast that breaks down our top headlines each week. This week, I spoke with opinion editor and middle-freshman, Michael Sandy, about the past six weeks. Thank you so much for being here.
Of course, thank you for having me. Could you tell me about what you do at The Daily? I am the opinion editor for The Daily, for Discordor, and I edit all of the opinion pieces that come through either from contributing writers or from cultists. The opinion differs from reporting in that instead of having multiple sources quoted throughout and having the reporter act as the uniform voice that puts all those voices together with information, we have one writer, either a contributing writer who sends something in or a columnist who decides to write about a particular theme, write about their thoughts.
At The Daily, the opinion section is distinct from the rest of the paper. Reporters that choose to write for opinion can't report for other desks during that quarter. Columnists and contributors follow the same rule. I ask Mika if you have any insight into the purpose our opinion section serves for the larger community.
I believe the main goals of a publication are to serve a community in terms of making sure everyone's well informed and sharing what's happening and what other people in the community think through interviews and just having a forum where members of the community can share their opinion beyond just maybe three sentences of their interview that will be shared in an article. I feel it is something very important since you can really expand on something you think and something you might be passionate about in longer form and for readers, it's someone from your community who's sharing this or someone who's connected to your community. I believe that it's something that readers want to know, ultimately. Mika's previous position in Winter Quarter was copy editor, which can be very different from opinion.
So I asked him, what made you decide to apply to be opinion editor? I do recall when I was editing here for copy, my fair piece edit were from the opinion desk because those were the ones that had the most voice in them. I think because of the nature of the desk in terms of having the 700 to 900 words to yourself to express your opinions and your experiences and your perspective. And even though I've never met the contributing writers that I'd edit for as copy or never hear them, when I read their pieces because of just how much of their perspective was in it.
It was also about computer voices and that was something I really admired. When I joined the Daily, I initially thought I'd go into reporting because reporting is what I'm passionate about. But more than that, I just really love getting to know people. And I thought that there was no better way to do it than to edit opinion pieces since you guide someone through every step of editing and just see the raw version, the raw draft of what they want to share, and then what it can flower into.
Recently, the audio and opinion desks have been working together to have opinion writers read aloud their pieces so that their articles can be heard in their voices. I asked Mike at how starting the project has been. I've been surprised by how many yeses we've gotten because we have it as a write-down as an opt-in feature. I ask anyone who writes her opinion if they'd like to record an audio cut with the goal of preserving the tone they intend to portray in their piece and also increase accessibility for multitasking and people who can really benefit from reading and hearing a piece at the same time.
Or just hearing the piece out loud and I'm really excited to see how it all looks at the end of the quarter. How is being an opinion editor allowed you to engage with the wider Northwestern community? Being able to be in touch with contributing writers and people who are writing for opinion has really meant a lot for me this quarter. Getting to know what they've experienced and also what they think in a way that you can't get in maybe your discussion class or during a brief lunch conversation or when you walk past them by the rock.
Having the experience of reading over to writing in this way and then helping them come to fruition in terms of having a finished article that's published. You get to know someone in general in a whole different way. Many opinion pieces are submitted to the daily by students or alumni and they're all reviewed by the opinion editor. When you're starting through submissions, what do you look for?
We mainly look for connection to the Western community, to the Evanston community. If you're a Western student and would like to write about any topic, you're more than welcome to. And if you're a Western alum or professor, faculty member, any direct connection to a Western, you're more than welcome to write for anything. Micah also talked about ensuring that opinion pieces are kept separate from other aspects of the daily and the desk's policy on which opinion pieces to publish.
The other criteria we have is not having anything hateful or anything that incites violence. Other than that, we don't censor voices because we respect people's opinions and we definitely don't invalidate anything that does abide by the criteria we have. And we make sure that we distinguish that the views expressed in opinion pieces aren't the ones shared by staffers or editors or the publications whole. With the blurb at the end that shares the writer's email address and then also invites people who are really passionate about a piece they've read and would like to share a response to it.
Do you have to be an opinion person to write for the opinion desk? Definitely not. Sometimes the misconception is that opinion pieces, they're like argumentative essays that you're assigned in high school where you have to support your arguments with facts. And if you're trying to make an argument, definitely support it with facts or some other form of evidence or experiences, but not all opinion pieces have to be that way.
You could just write to share your own experiences from the Western community from your time so far in the Western and your time so far at Evanston. And you're definitely free to write anything. Opinion can be anything you want it to be. Speaking of opinions, I wanted to ask about some opinions you have about the newsroom where we spend a lot of our time.
First, what's your favorite newsroom snack? A favorite newsroom snack has to be protein bars. I'm personally a fan of quests. Because the newsroom is in Norris, I conveniently head down to the market and find myself just any protein bar they have, honestly.
And it's a good snack, keeps me full throughout the hours I spent here and it complements my workouts. Speaking of time outside the newsroom, what's your favorite way to de-stress and create some balance in your life as a student journalist? The gym. I work out six times a week and I have for the past couple of years.
It's something that has, aside from my school schedule, really helped maintain sense of routine. And I prioritize the gym the same way I prioritize brushing my teeth. I see it just as something very important to me. And it's the one time in the day where I don't have any other concern whatsoever aside from how many reps am I doing?
How many minutes are there before my class? And am I going for the bench or am I going for the dumbbells? Finally, if the opinion desk had a motto, what do you think it would be? Write your heart's content within 700 to 900 words.
Perfect. Thank you so much, Micah. Of course, thank you so much for having me. This was quite fun.
From the Daily North Western, I'm Mika Allison. Thanks for listening to another episode of The Weekly. This episode was reported and produced by me. The audio editor of the Daily North Western is myself.
The digital managing editors are Ava Mandoli and Erin Fishman. And the editor in Chief is Alex Perry. Make sure to subscribe to the Daily North Western podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Soundclap. See you next week's episode on Monday.