The Iowa State Daily Publication Board announced Kylee Haueter as editor-in-chief for fall 2021 to spring 2022 and Logan Metzger as editor-in-chief for summer 2021.

Haueter and Metzger, along with Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez and Katherine Kealey, presented to the Board via a virtual meeting April 14. Kealey, Reyna-Rodriguez and Haueter applied for the 2021-22 academic year editor-in-chief role while Metzger applied for the summer editor-in-chief position.

Haueter, an academic senior in journalism and mass communication, is currently News Editor of Student Life and has done extensive reporting on COVID-19 over the last year. She centered her presentation around strengthening communication and increasing the Daily’s digital footprint.

“The biggest thing I want to focus on is communication, I think that will help us improve and get to where we need to be, because we are one company, and with COVID, it has been hard to feel like one company,” Haueter said. “… I really want to capitalize on our social media presence with things like Instagram stories, going live on Twitter and Instagram and utilizing TikTok.” 

Haueter also highlighted mental health awareness in her presentation.

“The biggest thing is to encourage everyone to get help if they need it, especially in a field like journalism where we are always working and covering tough stories,” she said. She also mentioned working on fighting the stigma surrounding mental health.

Metzger, a junior in English, is currently the Managing Editor of Content for the Daily and served as the summer 2020 editor-in-chief.

Metzger presented his plans, which were centered around creating educational resources for employees and condensing from a five-day news schedule to a three-day news weekly schedule.

“My biggest goal for this summer is to work on educational resources for our incoming reporters and editors,” Metzger said. He plans to accomplish this by creating step-by-step guides for employees at the Daily.

In regards to what Metzger wants to do better in his second summer, he said, “The goal is to be more organized than last year. Last year we had a lot of things such as the pandemic and [Black Lives Matter] protests, and so for my first time being [editor-in-chief,] I was overwhelmed and had a lot going on, but this time, I am better equipped to handle that much.”

Kealey, a sophomore in journalism and mass communication, presented her plan centered around three tactics: issue-oriented content, creating a cohesive digital platform and reengaging surrounding communities, as well as bringing back the senior reporter position to reward great journalism for those who do not want to go into the editing or managerial side of journalism.

Kealey is not sure what position she plans to pursue next year but wants to stay involved in the hopes of furthering her journalism skills.

“The main goal I wanna see from the Daily is to continue to serve the community around us and sticking to the integrity of journalism,” she said.

Reyna-Rodriguez, a junior in journalism and mass communication, currently works as the Engagement Editor. They based their presentation around changing up the employee structure along with smoothing the transition between summer and fall editors-in-chief and increasing communication throughout the Daily by implementing more meetings and bonding activities for team members.

Reyna-Rodriguez said they would like to see the Daily work on “expanding on diversity and inclusion in the newsroom” and “better benefitting marginalized communities across campus.”

Metzger will begin as the summer editor-in-chief once the school year wraps up and will transition to Haueter as the 2021-22 fall/spring editor-in-chief once the school year approaches.