We write to you, as a team, excited, ambitious and humbled to announce that this year, The Michigan Daily will have two Editors in Chief.
We believe this is a vital and necessary step for The Daily’s future. Since 2020, The Daily has expanded its top leadership team by one role each year. Under former Editor in Chief Claire Hao, the position of a Digital Managing Editor was created to edit and manage the increasingly prolific digital sections of our paper. In the fall of 2022, with the election of former Editor in Chief Paige Hodder, the single position of Managing Editor was split into a team of two editors.
These changes come in response to the increasing need for local journalism and the never-ending nature of digital content. After watching past Editors in Chief take a break or step down completely, we made the decision to run for this position on a co-platform, as one unit — one team. We feel incredibly grateful to have worked with and learned from such strong women over the past three years, and are honored to continue this legacy. As leaders, we recognize the importance of setting an example for our 450-person staff and the broader Ann Arbor community in valuing teamwork and honoring boundaries.
As co-Editors in Chief, we have spent countless nights discussing the logistical and structural changes that would come from this transition – two people to schedule meetings with, two people reading and responding to the hundreds of emails sent to The Daily every week, two people held responsible for the decisions and journey this paper will follow over the next year. Expanding this executive role challenges the 132-year-old structure of our paper, and we are committed to taking this challenge and capitalizing on it.
At the end of the day, we are student journalists, constantly learning from and growing with an incredible team of writers, editors, photographers, videographers, podcast hosts and web designers. We hope that, by continuing to think critically about the conventions of leadership, we will be able to dedicate our energy to continuing the legacy of The Daily in providing accurate and equitable reporting for every reader while pursuing new projects that will grow our organization and community.
We look forward to serving our readers well.
Kate Weiland and Shannon Stocking are The Daily’s co-Editors in Chief and can be reached at eic@michigandaily.com.