By Anne Baker

Criticism is a bit of a rough job. Sometimes we say things we know will hurt, not out of anger or spite, but out of love. The most valuable service anyone can do for this university is to stand up and call it like he sees it.
And many of us do. On the pages of this newspaper, members of the Northeastern community weigh in on what’s happening on our campus. In these heady days of recession and reorganization, there is a lot to comment on.
In our last issue, we ran a letter to the editor that excoriated The News for its lack of professionalism and standards. I was deeply saddened and hurt by this letter, not because it was false, but because it was true.
While I found the author’s self-righteous claims of worry for us as future journalists deeply annoying (let’s all just stick to what we know), the point of her letter was painfully on the mark.
I cannot deny that this newspaper has misspelled names or printed inaccuracies.’ I cannot deny that we’ve missed things or failed to report some in a timely manner. It’s all true. And for my role in that, as a former reporter and editor, and current columnist, I am sorry.
In this column, I speak only for myself. And despite the problems and some students’ discontent for The News, I remain its defender.
Every Thursday, students, staff and faculty of Northeastern bend down and pick up a fresh copy of the Huntington News. They see text and photographs and graphics. They see headlines, they see bylines. But what they don’t see, what you don’t see, are the 15 or so undergraduates hunched over their computers every Wednesday night frantically trying to put the whole thing together. Until 6 a.m. Every week.’ ‘
I don’t know if this sounds as hard as it is. And I tell you this not because it’s in some hope to elicit sympathy, or to excuse the omissions or mistakes. I want you to understand that being an editor here is hard. These students, masochistic as it might be, volunteer to do this not because it sounds like a good time, but because they think what they do here is important.
And it is important. The letter’s author understands its importance, and so should you. We say it all the time, but it’s the truth:’ Northeastern is in a time of some serious change. Just look at the football program, or the college restructure or our rise in the US News and World Report rankings.
Now, more than ever, Northeastern is in the need of a good news source to report and process the developments made here.’ It is in all of our best interests to have someone questioning any and every move made by our leaders, student and administrative. But we can’t do it alone.
You want to see us do better? Help us. Tell us when we make a mistake, contact an editor when you want to see something in the paper. You already comment on our stories and columns online. Take it a step further and send us an e-mail or come by our offices.
So alright, I see your challenge and I raise you one. The News hasn’t been as good as it should be. Yes, you’re right. We went twice a week, we moved off campus, we went back to once a week. We run a business now (math, we’ve learned, is hard). We were so distracted by the act of putting out a newspaper that we failed to really put out a newspaper. And I’m glad you noticed.
Readers, you want us to be better? Good, me too. Come in, write an article. Copy edit a story, talk to a reporter. We’ll be better, but we also invite you to join us. The time to just sit back and criticize is over. I’m hanging up my critic’s hat, and I invite you to hang up yours, too.

‘- Anne Baker can be reached at [email protected].