Look at today’s front page. Vilsack visited campus, Katie Robb changed her plea and we may finally be able to catch more ISU athletics on TV.

Nice front page, Andrea. What’s the big deal?

It took more than an hour for the 13 editors in the Daily budget meeting to decide what we wanted on the front page today. To put that in perspective, these meetings are only supposed to take about 20 minutes, tops.

So what was the problem?

Too much front page news.

Did we only want stories affecting our readers locally, or was it important to throw in a story about the latest activity in Afghanistan? Did we want a photo from the World Series or should we just refer to it for the sports section? Graphics, photos, infoboxes – what should we do with them all?

It’s a question I think hangs in the back of everyone’s mind – how does the media decide what news is news?

Why is a story about Mrs. Geoffroy’s newest piece of jewelry more important than the Ag Club’s fund-raiser on campus?

It’s called newsworthiness, and its factors are as diverse as the stories in the paper.

The biggest factor is whether or not it affects our readers’ lives in some way. We’re all very busy people and if we’re going to spend time reading something besides what’s assigned for the next day, it better be worth it. Sometimes these stories may affect our readers at the local level, like tuition increases and the city council election. The outcome of these issues will be a direct benefit or detriment to members of the ISU community.

Other issues do not hit as close to home, but are still important to know about. After Sept. 11 we were given a new challenge to decide how many stories about the U.S. offensive in Afghanistan and the anthrax scare are important and how many of them we need to provide information to our readers. This is especially hard since we don’t always have an extra page exclusively for national and international news.

Hence the hour-long budget meeting today.

So where does that put the story about Mrs. Geoffroy’s piece of jewelry?

Under the wow-you-don’t-hear-about-that-everyday story, the information you enjoy just because it’s interesting. Mrs. Geoffroy’s special Cyclone pin is definitely not as important as an increase in tuition, but anyone who sees her wearing the pin after reading our story will remember it was designed and made by an ISU student in Ames.

It’s the added factors of timeliness, conflict and public opinion that make the mix more murky and complex. And while we may try to stay as in the loop with our readers as possible, we aren’t always positive what news is news to the ISU campus.

Do our readers want more schedules of local events? Are there issues we aren’t addressing for them? Are our stories understandable and enjoyable to read?

I don’t know – but I know myself and everyone in the newsroom would like to.

This is why I’m putting out the call for a Daily focus group, your chance to tell the Daily staff what we’re doing right and what we need to improve on.

Meetings for the group would begin next semester on a monthly basis. Participation will be open to anyone in the ISU community in any college or department. The only conditions are that they read the paper regularly, make the meetings monthly and are able to give constructive criticism – emphasis on constructive.

All year I’ve talked about how the Daily is a forum for the ISU community, how it is designed to serve its readers. This is your chance to tell us how we’re doing. We hope you take it.

Andrea Hauser is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Edgewood. She is editor in chief of the Daily.