Digesting the Daily VIII
Recent editions of the Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper of my alma mater, featured several media-, technology-, and activism-related items that might be of interest to Media Dieticians.

MTV correspondent battles stereotypes, bad music
Asian American dishes on celebrities, making it big, in front of crowd of 200
(Jan. 14, 2003)

A paper monopoly
Norris Bookstore is where NU gets its texts -- but what happens if service falls short?
(Jan. 16, 2003)

How Norris cornered the market
(Jan. 16, 2003)

TV star visits As-Am class
Actor Shin tells class about difficulties of getting minority roles in television
(Jan. 16, 2003)

Lord of the lingo
NU library employee has mastered the mystical tongue central to Tolkien's trilogy
(Jan. 17, 2003)

Pick-A-Prof posts profs' grade history on the Web
Site already in place at 50 universities; NU has no plans to go beyond CTEC
(Jan. 17, 2003)

Double trouble
Rumor that Olsen twins will attend NY proves false but funny
(Jan. 29, 2003)

Weekend detention to the Daily's editorial team for thinking that Janeane Garofalo's stand-up appearance on campus was worth so much ink. The Jan. 17, 2003 edition of the Daily features two (2) feature stories about the show, taking up about half of the front page (both with jumps inside). Sure, the pieces are theoretically different. Raksha Varma reports on Garofalo's act, and Jennifer Leopoldt interviews the comedian by phone. But the two stories might have worked much better if combined into one story -- and perhaps included in one of the paper's two feature sections. Access doesn't warrant so much coverage, and unless it's a hella slow news day in Evanston, you wasted a front page. Janeane's great, but she's not all that.

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