Letter From the Editor: All Hail Technology

After a month of face-to-face classes in the Spring 2020 semester, the COVID-19 virus had a different idea. Friday, March 13 was the first day of the new normal, everything online, for Santa Monica College (SMC) students. When SMC students left their classrooms, the student journalists also left the Corsair Newsroom on the SMC Center for Media and Design campus. On Tuesday, March 24 the Corsair staff met in their new virtual newsroom on Zoom. Editor-in-Chief Jackie Sedley (1st person, 2nd row) leads a staff meeting to plan the next week's coverage. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)

All hail technology.

With a widespread illness invading countries worldwide, businesses closing their doors left and right, and panic-inducing coughs and sneezes occurring on the daily, now is the time when many of us need the support of our loved ones. However, social distancing and lockdown protocols ordained by our local governments are making face-to-face interaction as difficult as it is to get your hands on a roll of toilet paper.

Once again, all hail technology.

As a journalistic publication, we at The Corsair hold ourselves to the same standard as any other news outlet; to report on local, national, and international events with integrity, inclusivity, and accuracy. And when Santa Monica College (SMC) decided its best defense against COVID-19 was to close its doors entirely and move all classes and services online, The Corsair was by no means locked away within the college’s walls. 

Conversely, The Corsair was met with one of the greatest tasks I have been faced with during my time on the paper. From the minute that SMC decided to cease on-campus classes, students began looking to us for information about the status of their educational experiences. Faculty began heading to our website to see what intel we gathered from college administrators. Community members began relying on us to provide up-to-date coverage on business closures, city ordinances, lockdown protocol, and any myths about coronavirus that needed busting.

Now more than ever, our audience needs our website and social media accounts to be constantly updated. Without hesitation, The Corsair jumped into action. We have made sure to upload new content to the website daily, push breaking news updates on Instagram and Twitter, and produce some lighter podcasts and articles to give people a break if they are feeling overwhelmed from coronavirus coverage.

While we on The Corsair staff all miss our newsroom dearly, our bi-weekly meetings are still effective via Zoom calls. While we all wish we could congregate in-person to process the unpredictability of our current circumstances, our constant conversations via WhatsApp Messenger are still allowing our coverage to be cohesive.

Spending my days hunched over my laptop, thinking about my newborn nephew I cannot currently see and my mother who is still required to attend work everyday, I could really use a day in the newsroom amongst my staff. I could really use a pat on the shoulder from my peers, an in-person conversation with my superb advisers, and a nice whiff of a freshly-printed newspaper.

But, in the meantime, all hail technology. In the midst of this pandemic, The Corsair is a grounding force for me. I hope that our integrity, our inclusivity, and our accuracy when it comes to reporting can be grounding for everyone reading. We will make it through. We will get by, with a little help from our virtual friends and electronic devices.