Transparency, accuracy and consistency.

Or at least the pursuit of it. Those are the three commitments I can make to the readers of our newspaper.

The last two years have been transition years for us at The Spectator. We’ve moved from weekly print production to monthly print production all while redesigning and restructuring our website to handle the mass digital content we produce.

Sometimes during that process, we lost sight of reporting on what VSU students care about and focused on meeting our self-assessed deadlines.

Our role, our purpose is to be the unfiltered, uncensored voice of the students. That should be our main goal always, which goes hand-in-hand with the three commitments I made when I began this letter.

Part of our plan as being the voice is finding new ways to report on things that matter to students, whether it be through social media, pictures, videos or graphics. We can’t fully be a digital media source if we don’t expand our horizons to every option available to us in this age.

A part of using all of those mediums is also working with the multitalented students that are interested in media at our university.

The Spectator has an open-door policy where we accept all writers, photographers, videographers or graphic designers with no experience needed. As our staff expands, we will be able to cover more stories accurately and consistently.

Another way to meet the three goals that were promised is by contacting me directly whenever you’d like for us to cover a story or event that is important to you.

My contact information is on our website or you can come to our office on Wednesday nights at 6 p.m. throughout the semester. Communication is a two-way street. We want all the feedback that we can possibly get to more accurately and consistently represent students. All of these are in efforts to be the best news source that we can be.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that we will have our struggles, we will. Our staff is comprised of all students just like you. We have test, assignments, projects, classes and other challenges that are typical for college students.

I make this point to ask for understanding and forgiveness when we make mistakes. We will continue to get better as time goes on, and we will build upon the foundation to return The Spectator to the award-winning news source that we have been in the past.

My bottom line goal: As I go into my third year on staff, I want to reach the VSU community and report on things that matter to you. My goal is to help The Spectator into the digital age while elevating us to the top student run news source in the state. We’ll do that through transparency, accuracy and consistency.

-Juston Lewis