The Daily Texan

{{Short description|Student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Daily Texan | logo = The Daily Texan.png | logo_size = 250px | image = The Daily Texan - 2005-12-05.jpg | caption = The December 5, 2005 front page of ''The Daily Texan'' | type = Student newspaper | format = Broadsheet | owners = The University of Texas | publisher = Texas Student Media | founded = 1900 | headquarters = Austin, Texas | website = [http://www.thedailytexan.com/ www.thedailytexan.com] }}

'''''The Daily Texan''''' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and is among the oldest student newspapers in the South.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-02|title=Top 50 College Newspapers|url=https://www.collegechoice.net/college-life/best-college-newspapers/|access-date=2022-01-17|website=CollegeChoice|language=en-US}}</ref>

The ''Texan'' is entirely student-run and independent from the university, although its operations are overseen by Texas Student Media, an entity with faculty, student, and newspaper industry representatives.

==History== The ''Texan''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s origins date back to October 1900, with the merger of two privately owned weekly newspapers, ''The Ranger'' (est. 1897) (which had succeeded ''The Alcalde'', which published from 1895–1897) and ''The Ranger and the Calendar'' (1889–1900). In 1902 ''The Texan'' was taken over by the Student Association.<ref name=TSHA> {{cite encyclopedia |title=University of Texas at Austin |encyclopedia=Handbook of Texas |date= |year= |last= |first= |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, Texas |id= |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kcu09 |access-date=2021-05-14 }}

</ref> From 1900–1907, the newspaper came out weekly; and from 1907–1913 ''The Texan'' was published semiweekly. In 1913, the student body voted to publish the paper each weekday, and ''The Daily Texan'' was born on September 24, 1913.

In 2008 ''The Daily Texan'' was one of three student newspapers that owned and operated its own printing press. Originally acquired in 1973 for $222,000 ({{Inflation|US|222000|1973|fmt=eq|r=-3}}), the press was put on the market in 2009. In May 2009, the ''Austin American-Statesman'' began printing ''The Daily Texan''.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/board-delays-motion-to-sell-printing-press-1.948470 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20090721051135/http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/board-delays-motion-to-sell-printing-press-1.948470 |title = Board delays motion to sell printing press |author = Kreighbaum, Andrew |access-date = 2009-07-21 |archive-date = 2009-07-21 |date = 2008-11-24 |newspaper = The Daily Texan |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/sounds-of-doubt-as-press-hum-fades-1.1749744 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090516165025/http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/sounds-of-doubt-as-press-hum-fades-1.1749744 |title = Sounds of doubt as press hum fades |author = McKenzie, Ana |access-date = 2009-07-21 |archive-date = 2009-05-16 |date = 2009-05-13 |newspaper = The Daily Texan |url-status = dead }}</ref> As of October 2019, ''New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung'' prints and distributes the papers.

==Staff== {{Original research|section|date=June 2011}} Historically, the position of editor of ''The Daily Texan'' has been elected. The logic of an elected editor-in-chief historically has been based on the newspaper’s having been founded and owned by students and then given over to the student body. More recently, it has been argued{{By whom|date=June 2011}} that because students were compelled to fund the paper through the payment of mandatory student service fees, they should have some say in the paper’s overall direction. In addition, the elected editor-in-chief has been seen{{By whom|date=June 2011}} as a way to protect the paper from institutional censorship from the university. Since the student body selects the editor of the paper, this ensures that the university administration cannot install an editor-in-chief sympathetic to its views and thereby control the content of the newspaper.

In modern times{{When|date=June 2011}}, editorial candidates have been screened by the Texas Student Publications Board (now known as Texas Student Media), an entity with faculty, student, and newspaper industry representatives. The TSM Board publishes a handbook which sets forth the requirements an editorial candidate must meet before his or her name may be placed on the ballot. The board has been resistant to the idea of an elected editor and has made several attempts to convert the position to an appointed one. The most recent attempt, led by the board president, was in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.pulsejournal.com/sports/content/shared/news/nation/stories/04/22_DAILY_TEXAN.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110715131838/http://www.pulsejournal.com/sports/content/shared/news/nation/stories/04/22_DAILY_TEXAN.html |title = Battle over Daily Texan editorship replays itself |author = Beach, Patrick |access-date = 2009-07-21 |archive-date = 2011-07-15 |date = 2005-04-22 |newspaper = The Pulse-Journal |url-status = dead }}</ref>

The TSM Board currently appoints the managing editor, who oversees the daily operation of the paper, including all departments other than opinion. The editor-in-chief, who is elected, has sole oversight of the editorial page and opinion department.

==Awards== The ''Texan'' has won multiple awards, including the Associated Collegiate Press’ "Pacemaker Award" in 1965, 1969, 1971 and 1985, and the Columbia Scholastic Press’ Gold Crown Award in 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2005 and 2006. Most recently the Texan won TAPME’s Daily Newspaper of the Year Award for 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 27, 2017 |title=2016 Texas APME Awards List |url=http://www.txapme.com/2017/03/27/2016-texas-apme-awards-list/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830200837/http://www.txapme.com/2017/03/27/2016-texas-apme-awards-list/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Texas Associated Press Managing Editors}}</ref>

==Notable staff alumni== {{columns-list|colwidth=30em| *Demi Adejuyigbe *Nick Barbaro<ref name="maxwell">{{cite web |last1=Maxwell |first1=Jane Carlisle |title=Musicians Off the Record |url=https://commstudies.utexas.edu/research/musicians-record/scene-makers/nick-barbaro |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924152653/https://commstudies.utexas.edu/research/musicians-record/scene-makers/nick-barbaro |archive-date=2021-09-24 |website=Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin}}</ref> *Bill Barminski *Lisa Beyer *Berke Breathed *Walter Cronkite *Henry Gayden *Mike Godwin *Karen Elliott House *Deborah Howell *Lady Bird Johnson<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2.4489/a-former-first-lady-leaves-us-her-legacy-1.956801 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20090721051007/http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2.4489/a-former-first-lady-leaves-us-her-legacy-1.956801 |title = A former first lady leaves us her legacy |author1 = DeBard, Amanda |author2 = Jankowski, Philip |access-date = 2009-07-21 |archive-date = 2009-07-21 |date = 2007-07-12 |newspaper = The Daily Texan |url-status = dead }}</ref> *Fritz Lanham *Dan Malone *Mark McKinnon *Willie Morris *Bill Moyers *John Patric *Larry C. Price *Robert Rodriguez *Liz Smith *Karen Tumulty *Siva Vaidhyanathan *Rob Walker *Chris Ware *Robert Wilonsky }}

A number of cartoonists who began at the ''Texan'' have gone on to attain commercial success. The most notable of these are Chris Ware, creator of ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth''; Berkeley Breathed, creator of ''Academia Waltz'', the predecessor to ''Bloom County''; and Robert Rodriguez, director of ''Sin City''. ''Hepcats'', by Martin Wagner, and ''Eyebeam'', by Sam Hurt, also found continued success after their creators left the University of Texas at Austin. A number of ''Texan'' cartoonists later worked in animation, among them Divya Srinivasan, the author of ''Little Owl’s Night'' and other children’s picture books.

==See also== {{Portal|Texas|Journalism}} *List of college and university student newspapers in the United States {{Clear}}

==References== ;Notes {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography *{{Cite book |last=Copp |first=Tara |title=The Daily Texan: The First 100 Years |date=1999 |publisher=Eakin Press |others=Robert L. Rogers |isbn=1-57168-302-X |edition=1 |location=Austin, Texas |oclc=40762585}}

==External links== *''[https://www.thedailytexan.com/ The Daily Texan]'' *{{Handbook of Texas|id=eed07|name=''The Daily Texan''}} *[http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/~mh391/tsp/2005/texan-editor-bios.html Editors of ''The Daily Texan'']{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }} — compiled by John Economidy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Texan}} Category:1900 establishments in Texas Category:Newspapers published in Austin, Texas Category:Newspapers established in 1900 Category:Student newspapers published in Texas Category:Texas Student Media Category:Daily newspapers published in Texas