Another summer has flown by, and it’s time to get back to business. I was brought on as the public editor for about a month at the end of the spring semester, soon after the new editorial board took over. I’m now back again to address reader comments and offer my own critiques of what The Sun is up to.

Any public editor’s relationship with his newspaper must have the flavor of an outsider’s perspective. Ultimately, a public editor has to maintain his distance from the paper’s editorial process; the crux of this job is giving an unaffiliated, independent opinion of the paper’s decisions.

With that in mind, I think the beginning of the year is a good time to outline a few areas worth further exploration in the coming year. There are some things The Sun does very well, some things that have room for improvement and some areas that are relatively uncharted.

Headlines

Writing a good headline is one of the most maddening steps of the editing process. A headline should catch the reader’s attention but still make the reader want to read the story. It should match the tone of the story. It should not be boring, and in some cases, should be clever. As if these guidelines weren’t difficult enough, the space for a headline is always limited.

The banner headline from the Aug. 27 issue — “Pipe Burst Leads to Pot Bust,” written by news editor Michael Stratford ’11 — is everything a headline should be. It is clever, and it opens the door to the story without stealing too much from the reporter.

A good rule of thumb on the “boring” point: Any headline where the main verb is “meets,” “discusses,” “debates” or similar should be removed and reworked. “Council meets …” is neither particularly informative nor engaging.

Story Selection

The Sun does its daily diligence well. On-campus and in-town meetings, discussions, culture, speeches, arrests and other events are promptly and effectively documented. Sun reporters are generally eager and hard-working, and they have the connections to write these stories well. Reporters should use these connections even more, to cast light on campus trends and larger problems. There should also be more pieces in which broader issues are viewed through a local lens. How are the national stories of the day affecting Cornellians?

These stories are often more difficult to report. They do not get done in a day, but they are certainly worth the effort of dedicated student reporters. A few of them here and there would go a long way to engage readers.

Copy Editing

The goal for any newspaper is to make sure every story is perfect. The reputation of the paper hangs in the balance with every word printed. If mistakes keep showing up on the pages, a paper suffers. Every fact must be accurate; every sentence must adhere to proper conventions of English; stories must be clear, concise and direct. To top it all off, every issue faces a deadline crunch — and all of these things must be checked quickly every day.

There is a lot on any editor’s plate on any given night, but I think the line editing within Sun stories needs to be better. It seems like too many basic mistakes — incorrect spelling, inconsistent style and wordiness, to name a few — are making it through and into print. There is probably a combination of factors at work here: deadline pressure, other duties, unfamiliarity with Sun Style. That being said, there is more than one way to edit a story. Some prefer reading a story many times, checking for different kinds of mistakes each time through. Others prefer fewer, more intense reads. Editors need to find editing methods they are comfortable with and that allow them to be as close to perfect as possible.

But these are a just a few suggestions from the mind of one person. Reader feedback can drive editorial decisions and policies, too. Compared to other colleges, Cornell has a large student body. The circulation of The Sun is sizable compared to other college papers, but it’s still small enough that reader comments are all noticed and given careful consideration.

My role at The Sun is largely contingent on reader feedback. A new year provides a new opportunity for The Sun to evolve, develop and flourish. I hope as many people as possible will join me in this process.

I always welcome reader comments, and I want them to drive the content of this column in the coming weeks and months. What do you like? What do you hate? Did something offend you? Did something intrigue you? Was something unfair? Was something particularly poignant? I want to hear about it, and I want to give your ideas proper consideration.