(Nathan Ferraro / Fourth Estate)
Reflecting and moving forward
BY SAM DOUGLAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
To the Mason community,
My name is Sam Douglas, and I am the Editor-in-Chief of Fourth Estate. I am a sophomore majoring in Communication, and journalism has been present throughout my entire college career.
In my first semester as a staff writer on campus, I covered protests, lawsuit threats and more. Since the next semester, when I got my first leadership role as Assistant News Editor and started having a small say in decision-making, I have been driven to make Fourth Estate the best newspaper it could possibly be.
After a short stint as Co-News Editor, I became Editor-in-Chief in early October. Since I got the role, I can honestly say that I am proud of every article Fourth Estate has published. I am equally proud of the talented leadership team that has been established here; they are all fantastic writers, editors and people.
Our team has done good work so far this academic year: we’ve covered turmoil in the Board of Visitors and Student Government. We’ve been at protests and political rallies. We had extensive coverage of Election Day, and published daily for over a month straight.
While I’m proud of our work last fall semester, I believe the best is yet to come. Concurrently, Fourth Estate’s work is needed now more than ever.
Some big news outlets have been unable to resist the political sway of rich owners. More and more local newspapers close their doors each month. It is crucially important at this time for student newspapers to fill that void.
As EIC, I promise that Fourth Estate will continue to provide unbiased, important journalism for the Mason community and everyone else that is interested. I want to hear from you all: whether you have an opinion on the news of the week or are interested in joining our team (no experience required), feel free to email me at any time.
I look forward to hearing from all of you throughout the semester.
Sam Douglas, Editor-in-Chief
