Columbia Daily Spectator

Columbia Daily Spectator is the weekly student newspaper of Columbia University. It is published at 112th and Broadway in New York, New York. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after The Harvard Crimson, and has been legally independent of the university since 1962. During the academic term, it is published online Monday through Friday and printed every Thursday. In addition to serving as a campus newspaper, Spec, as it is commonly known, also reports the latest news of the surrounding Morningside Heights community. The paper is delivered each week to over 150 locations throughout the Morningside Heights neighborhood.

Organization

Spectator is published by Spectator Publishing Company Inc, an independent 501(c)(3) corporation. Spectator Publishing Company was formed in 1962 and has been independent of Columbia University since then. The president of the Spectator Publishing Company also serves as the editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator.

Spectator's writing departments, each headed by one or two editors, include campus news, city news, sports, arts and entertainment, and opinion. The other non-writing departments, also headed by their own respective editors, include photography, design, online, production, copy, and business. The business departments, which oversee the newspaper's advertising, finances, and alumni relations, are headed by the publisher.

Spec is currently run by the 139th managing board. First-time writers at Columbia begin their time at the paper with a 1- to 2-month trial period, during which they learn the basics of writing an article and publish their first articles. Each November and December, students run for positions at the paper, a grueling process that takes nearly a month. They begin by shadowing, or sitting with the current editors or associate editors and learning the editing process. Next they write proposals for their desired position. The students then take editing tests made up by their department editor that test them on fundamentals. Finally, they go through the "Turkey Shoot," an interview in which the current managing board grills the applicant on why the applicant feels that they would be a good fit for the position. The results of the process, including the new managing board, are announced in mid-December, the weekend before finals.

Recent spinoffs

In 2005, Spec started printing La Página, a weekly flyer in Spanish with translations of some of the week's English content most relevant to neighborhood readers. It folded within the year.

The next year, in February 2006, the paper launched a series of blogs, SpecBlogs. They were the third Ivy League paper to do this, after the Harvard Crimson 's Sports Blog (December 2005) and The Daily Pennsylvanian 's TheBuzz (January 2006).

In September 2006, Spectator staff launched The Eye, a weekly magazine featuring investigative pieces and commentary on Columbia and New York City. The name of The Eye relates both to the fact that one "spectates" with it and urban theorist Jane Jacobs' notion that "eyes on the street" help keep neighborhoods safe.

In March 2010, Spec launched a new blog, Spectrum, which is updated several times a day with breaking news, columns, and features.

Current management

Editor in Chief: Michael Ouimette
Managing Editor: Samantha Cooney
Publisher: Daniel Friedman
Campus News Editor:Elizabeth Sedran
City News Editor: Deborah Secular
Editorial Page Editor: Mikhail Klimentov
Arts & Entertainment Editor: Anne Marie Bompart
Sports Editor: Kyle Perrotti
Head Copy Editor: Isaiah Thomas
Photo Editor: Youjin Jenny Jang
Design Editors: Jenna Beers and Emma Volk
Spectrum Editor: Hannah Josi
Editor in Chief, The Eye: Katie McMahon
Director of Product & Audience Development: Caroline Chiu
Director of Events: Genevieve Lewis
Digital Features Editor: Kelly (Qinyi) Fan
Director of Revenue: Rachit Mohan
Staff Director: Sarah Roth

Recent leadership

Notable Spec alumni

• David Alpern, former senior writer and current contributing editor for Newsweek
• Lou Antonelli, Texas-based science fiction and fantasy author
• R.W. Apple, senior staff writer for The New York Times, serving as a foreign correspondent for over 30 years
• Roone Arledge, sportscaster and head of ABC News; created 20/20 and Nightline in addition to Monday Night Football
• Chris Beam, The New Republic reporter and co-founder of IvyGate
• Naftali Bendavid political reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution
• Arnold Beichman, conservative commentator
• Damien Bona, former Daily Spectator film critic, film historian and co-author of "Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards"
• Katherine Boo, writer for The New Yorker and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
• Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of the Washington Post and former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal
• Robert Neil Butler, geriatrician
• Ben Casselman, economics reporter for FiveThirtyEight, formerly energy reporter for The Wall Street Journal
• Bennett Cerf, co-founder of Random House
• Ariana Cha, The Washington Post
• Elizabeth Cohen, CNN reporter
• Matthew Cooper, Portfolio columnist
• Matthew Continetti, writer at The Weekly Standard
• David Denby, staff writer for The New Yorker
• I.A.L. Diamond, screenwriter
• Morris Dickstein, noted literary critic and professor at CUNY
• Joe Ferullo, Vice President of Programming and Development for CBS Paramount Domestic Television
• Max Frankel, former executive editor of The New York Times
• Ruth Franklin, senior literary editor at The New Republic
• Robert Friedman, editor-at-large at Bloomberg
• Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
• Robert Giroux, publisher
• Ralph J. Gleason, music critic
• Alfred Harcourt, publisher
• Reed Harris, expelled for 20 days, author of King Football, journalist, civil servant, target of McCarthyism
• Langston Hughes, poet, novelist and playwright
• Dan Janison, reporter and columnist for New York Newsday
• Jack Kerouac, Beat Generation novelist
• Bob Klapisch, sportswriter for The Record
• Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo, Chinese diplomat
• Adam B. Kushner, editor of PostEverything at the Washington Post
• Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright; author of Angels in America
• John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine
• Dienda Madiq, music promoter
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Academy award-winning movie director
• Sam Marchiano, sportscaster, currently for MLB.com
• Graham Moore, Academy award-winning screenwriter
• Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General
• Pat Mullins, Chairman of Virginia Republican Party
• Michael Musto, New York City journalist and media gadfly
• Bernard W. Nussbaum, former White House counsel to President Bill Clinton
• Jim Ogle, longtime sportswriter for The Star-Ledger and chronicler of the New York Yankees
• Jed Perl, author and art critic of The New Republic
• Joshua Prager, author and previous special senior projects reporter for the Wall Street Journal
• Ted Rall, political cartoonist
• Roger Rubin, sportswriter, New York Daily News
• Rob Saliterman, former spokesman for former President George W. Bush
• Nicholas Schifrin, Pakistan correspondent for ABC News
• Warren St. John, New York Times reporter and author
• Nick Summers, Bloomberg Businessweek reporter and co-founder of IvyGate
• Lee C. Townsend, News Editor, CBS Evening News (Cronkite & Rather)
• Dick Wald, former president of NBC
• Steven Waldman, journalist and founder of Beliefnet.com
• Michael Waldman, speechwriter and advisor for President Bill Clinton
• Sharon Waxman, New York Times reporter
• James Wechsler, chief editor of the New York Post
• Lis Wiehl, legal commentator for Fox News
• Beau Willimon, creator, producer and writer of U.S. miniseries House of Cards
• Herman Wouk, author
• Paul Zimmerman, columnist for Sports Illustrated (as "Dr. Z")
• Bruce Mayrock, Student activist and self-immolator

See also

• Columbia University
• Morningside Heights
• List of New York City newspapers and magazines

References

1. ^ Page 20
2. ^ "Spectator Publishing Company Inc overview from Guidestar.org". Guidestar.org. Retrieved 4 April 2014. 
3. ^ "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax; 2012 IRS Form 990 of Spectator Publishing Co Inc". Retrieved 4 April 2014. 
4. ^ http://columbiaspectator.com/about
5. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (2012-02-09). "Damien Bona Dies at 56; Creator of Guide for Oscar Buffs". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-25. 
6. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/adam-b-kushner

External links

• Columbia Daily Spectator online
• The Eye weekly magazine
• Spectrum blog
• Spectator Publishing Company
• Columbia Daily Spectator archive

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