Why today’s Daily Cal is blank above the fold
An editor’s note explains why the top half of today’s Daily Californian front page is blank:
For 141 years, this paper has been a regular fixture on campus, informing students of the most important issues affecting our community.
Starting today, students will head to the polls to vote on whether a $2 semester fee is worth sustaining The Daily Californian for five years in the most volatile chapter in the history of journalism.
Today’s front page above the fold is blank. There are no stories on the ASUC election, nothing about this year’s increase in crime, no photos of police officers using force against protesters and no notice of future tuition increases. The coverage you are used to is on page 2, and after today, it will continue as it has since 1871.
But if the V.O.I.C.E. Initiative does not pass, that may not be the case for long.
* Read the Daily Californian e-edition
We did the same thing, for the same reason, when I was editor in chief of the University at Buffalo student newspaper, during the 1996-97 school year. As I recall, the student referendum asked whether the Spectrum could receive $2 ($1 per semester) from the student mandatory activity fee. The referendum was approved, and I believe the stark message on our front page helped.