To: The Minnesota Daily

Published in the September 7, 2006 edition of The Minnesota Daily, Opinion page


Unimportant stories

Not surprisingly, the beginning of a new school year has made it apparent, once again, that the quality of The Minnesota Daily will never deteriorate; nor improve. The Sept. 5 edition proved that the Daily likes the middle ground, otherwise known as mediocrity.

On the front page, a place usually reserved for the most important news of the day, I was informed by JP Leider of the existence of a "firewall" and that I should install one on my computer to make it more secure. This was next to a most shocking story by Vadim Lavrusik entitled, "Students make mass move into residence halls." Who would have imagined that students attending the University would move into the campus' residence halls at the beginning of the new school year? I can see the wisdom of these stories prominently gracing your front page; while the other local newspaper, The Star Tribune, chose hackneyed stories involving the U.N. mediating prisoner talks and local Somalians being financially hurt by the government's crackdown on terrorism.

On your opinion page, the intended intelligence level of your readership is shown by the Opinions editor Frances Zerr. Her words enlightened me as I was informed that an editorial cartoon "pens important issues," that the number of deaths in Iraq has increased since last May and other banal minutia that, apparently, needed to be explained to the infantile readers the Daily assumes it attracts.

I suggest that the Daily - a publication which has never been afraid to brag that it is the third most circulated daily newspaper in Minnesota - begin to consistently publish articles of relevance and importance. Because being a widely circulated newspaper that publishes uninspiring stories of the mundane is nothing to brag about.

Douglas Sinclair
former University student


NOTE: While I am pleased to see the Daily published my letter in an admission of their incompetence, I am also dismayed. They deleted two whole paragraphs, one of which highlighted their daft usage of Wikipedia as a source.

They will be receiving another letter of complaint, notifying them that my art, words, and thoughts are not to be censored in any manner.