Perhaps no issue presents more of a challenge to college newspapers today than the question of credibility.

Although most student journalists strive for the highest degree of professionalism and are thorough and accurate in their reporting, they often work under a cloud of doubt.

There’s always an underlying sentiment of “Oh, well, they’re just kids.”

Young journalists, even those far removed from college newspapers, have endured increasing scrutiny in recent months in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal.

You remember Blair, right? He was the hotshot New York Times reporter, hired at the age of 23, whose behavior made Pinocchio look like Honest Abe.

After a lengthy investigation, New York Times editors discovered Blair was guilty of plagiarism, lying, making up stories and sources and shattering practically every journalistic ethic imaginable.

Particularly troubling was the discovery that Blair had concocted a number of “facts” while covering the Washington, D.C. sniper attacks.

After Blair’s misdeeds were exposed, questions arose about his career at the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, The Diamondback.

Blair served as a reporter and then editor in chief of the publication during the 1996-97 school year, although he never graduated.

A group of about 25 members of the Maryland Media Inc.’s Alumni Association, as well as the current Diamondback staff, are investigating Blair’s work at the paper.

One can’t help but wonder what sort of tall tales went into the paper while Blair was in control.

With national scandals involving newspapers as reputable as the New York Times and even the Diamondback, it’s no wonder the public’s trust of the mainstream media is at an all-time low.

So just how does a college newspaper establish its credibility?

At the Daily, we begin this task by keeping our most important goal in mind at all times — to seek the truth, and then to fairly, completely and accurately report it to the ISU community.

By serving our readers to the best of our ability, we hope they are able to make more educated, informed decisions about their day-to-day lives.

Since the Daily’s establishment in 1890, one of our most important roles is to serve as a watchdog for the ISU community.

We provide a voice for those who may not have one, particularly ISU students, but also to faculty, staff and the university community as a whole.

It’s been said part of a journalist’s duty is to champion the underdog, to shed light on issues that affect those who who have no real power or means to improve their lives.

Our reporters are out there asking the questions that most students don’t have the opportunities or accessibility to ask.

The Daily’s employees did not just stumble blindly into the newsroom. We’re here because we want to be; because we believe we have a responsibility to our readers.

Ethical questions always arise. This summer, two Daily photojournalists and I were on the scene of a hit-and-run car accident in which a car full of intoxicated juveniles slammed into a woman’s car.

The woman died moments later, and as editor in chief, I had to question which photos to run and which would not be published.

Only two days later, we faced a second ethical dilemma involving the Ann McGowan trial, the Ames woman who was accused of giving birth and then strangling her infant daughter with pantyhose.

Several of the photos from the trial showed prosecutors holding up evidence, including large, graphic photos of the baby with pantyhose clearly wrapped around her neck.

No photos ran in the Daily that showed recognizable bodies, although photos ran from both the accident and the trial that expressed the story to readers in ways words couldn’t.

When sensitive issues such as these come up, we ask ourselves a series of questions: “What is our responsibility to our readers? How can we best tell this story? Who is likely to be harmed? What do our readers need to know? How will this affect them?”

Sometimes, there are no easy answers to these questions.

Many national newspapers (including the New York Times) have a Code of Ethics, an overreaching set of guidelines to help them through ethical dilemmas ranging from sensitive photographs to plagiarism.

The Daily is currently working on its own Code of Ethics. Daily photographer Eric Rowley and I, began to scribe a Code of Ethics over the summer. We have a solid start, but we realized we needed more.

We needed input from other Daily staff members, but we also needed input from you, our readers.

This year, I want to hear about what you think of our coverage, especially when sensitive issues arise.

I want to know what you’ve thought of our coverage in the past, and what you would like to see improved in our coverage in the future.

This is your newspaper. We want to know how we can best serve you.

By keeping our doors open at all times and by returning every call, letter and e-mail we receive as soon as we can, we continue to demonstrate our responsibility to our community.

This is also how we build our credibility.