Well, What Happened?
An explanation to Daily Cardinal alumni as to how the Cardinal found itself in a position to shut down in February 1995. This is the first of two parts.
Paper takes lead, awards
The Society of Professional Journalists bestows 24 newspaper and web site-related awards each year. This year, the Cardinal took home three awards.
The staff of The Daily Cardinal put in another year of distinguished service in the 108th volume with special issues, breaking stories and dedication far above and beyond the call of duty.
Their efforts led to three Society of Professional Journalists' awards, including "Best All Around Daily Student Newspaper."
This volume marked another complete season of "GameDay," a full-color football program hand-distributed at Camp Randall before games. Its popularity and success grew and ticket holders sought out the free program for its player interviews, commentary, rosters and photographs.
The Badger's successful football season also resulted in a Rose Bowl special issue that closed out the fall semester. The issue proved the staff's capability for diligence and teamwork.
The Cardinal cracked some big stories this volume and led public discourse on the consequences of a $50 million donation to the City of Madison to create a downtown arts district.
Citizens, officials and media alike immediately praised the local businessman's gift. Though the Cardinal endorses improving the local arts scene, we were first to investigate the new district's construction plans for State and Fairchild streets.
Several businesses were made to relocate. After we published the owners' concerns, criticism of the process spread throughout the city.
Four days of intense investigation led to a Cardinal exclusive that caught the attention of Madison and national news outlets. Badger football star Ron Dayne was involved in a locker room "scuffle" that sent his teammate to the hospital for four days of reconstructive facial surgery.
The athletic department was tight-lipped about the matter, but the ongoing investigative series showed the city that students reporters can break a big story -- and before anyone else.
Financially, we have been surviving, though Madison's oversaturated media market stunts our growth; we remain primarily an eight-page, black and white newspaper. Morale is high: we make the most of what we have. The staff is anxious and able to publish more pages with more color.
Every semester, our recruitment meeting draws dozens of new staff members, most of whom would write twice as often if given the chance. Our photography department now color processes all film and our newsroom system has the ability to produce 12 or 16 pages a day.
The Cardinal may always have problems like a broken film scanner and server crashes, but as we head to the SPJ convention in Minneapolis to pick up our awards, we all will be appreciative of its contribution to our lives and our community. that is the Cardinal.
Good Press
The Southworth Project and the students who travelled to Washington, DC to cover the Supreme Court arguments garnered many mentions in local and national media. Excerpted here are some of the mentions made of the project or the Daily Cardinal.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 10, 1999:
...Among those in the crowd milling around on the plaza were the 12 law and journalism students from the UW, whose stated mission is to track the case and explain it to their fellow students back in Madison.
Although they already were familiar with the constitutional and factual issues, Charlotte Daugherty, 26, a third-year law student, said she thought the justices were trying to focus on the gray areas in the case. She said she sympathized with Ullman, who she said had to field difficult questions.
"I'm glad I wasn't up there," said [Daily Cardinal managing editor] Colleen Jungbluth, 21, a journalism and political science senior. "It's incredible the extremes the justices went to and how they bounced around up there."
The students are familiar enough with the case to have formed opinions of their own. Daugherty, for example, said she sided with the UW. But Sarah Maguire, 20, a journalism junior, said she was trying to stay objective and had no idea which way the Supreme Court might rule.
Mike Hsu, 19, a journalism sophomore, said he believed the justices would finesse the situation and come down somewhere in between.
"I think, constitutionally, Southworth has the better case," he said. "But I think the Supreme Court's remedy will be to give the regents leeway to protect the mission to preserve an open forum of discussion." ...
From USA Today, Nov. 10, 1999:
... "A lot of student leaders are feeling this is out of their hands, but they ... tend to prepare for the worst," says Colleen Jungbluth, managing editor of the Daily Cardinal, one of two campus student newspapers...