Hello everybody! My name is Jorge Mercado, more affectionately known as Merk around the office for short, and I am the new Editor-in-Chief.
Let me begin by saying how glad I am to be able to introduce myself to you all and how grateful I am to be in the position I am in.
Megan Miniero, Jorge Mercado, and Maura Fox laughing and having a great time. Dustin Harris / Daily Nexus
Now, let’s start with the hard stuff. What does this mean for you the student? I am the first EIC in a long time that has come from the sports section. Because of that, I want to bring more variety to this paper and have a lot more feature-style content across all sections to help all of you students feel more connected to this paper.
I think we do a good job of being the voice for students, but I know we can do even better. Each and every one of you on campus has a story, so come to share it with us. Every single voice at UCSB is vital to that change, and, as editor in chief, it is my top priority to incorporate your voices into our journalism.
I also hope to expand our outreach and find new and creative ways to reach out to students, whether that be through podcasts or another medium.
Ultimately, however, I want our reporting to stay as great as it has been. We are a newspaper and we are journalists and it is our job to bring you the truth. In a time where “fake news” is as prevalent as hopefully, it will ever be, we want to be a trusted outlet that you can rely on.
That doesn’t mean we are perfect. We will make mistakes. We will publish things that not everyone will agree with. This is what comes with being in this business. But know that every single thing we do, we do it because we believe it is the right thing to do.
Now, really quickly, I’d love to take the time by saying how much I love The Daily Nexus.
Joining this college newspaper has easily been the best decision of my life. I can honestly say that after three years of college, I would not be who I am right now had I not joined the paper — and most would say I am a pretty pleasant person.
For as long as I can remember, sports was always at the forefront of my mind. I loved to play. But after not being blessed with tremendous stature, my hopes of ever playing football at a D-I level were never going to happen, so I decided to write about sports instead!
Now, only I would have been dumb enough to pick a school that doesn’t have a football team, considering it is my favorite sport, but I think everything worked out all right.
Better than that though are the people. Everyone I have ever met here has been so kind and wonderful.
For a better part of two years, I worked with Sean White, as we were both sports editors, and it was the best experience of my life. Usually working with people sucks — we all hate group projects — but working with Sean was incredibly easy. We knew our goal was to grow the section and I think we did that. I wish him the best as he prepares to graduate.
Just as important are the three ladies that came before me in this position, Megan Mineiro, Supriya Yelimeli and Maura Fox. I have nothing but respect and admiration for these women listed. If you want to meet kind, hardworking, talented people, then they are perfect.
All three did tremendous things as EIC, not just making sure this place stayed afloat but rather shifting their attention to making this paper the best it can be. I would love to tell you more about each one of them because they are so special, but I only have so much space.
It is because of them that I am confident in stepping into this role. Three years ago all I wanted to do was write about sports — I never even thought about running for EIC.
But as I kept growing up, kept learning from these ladies, in particular, I realized my heart was not just in sports, it was in this paper as a whole. I love every single person at the Nexus and the fact I am leading it means the world to me.
If you ever have any concerns, questions or honestly just want to chat, please feel free to come to talk to me. I promise I won’t talk about the Nexus the whole time, I do have a personality outside this place! Thank you for reading.
Jorge Mercado
323-605-5155
Jorge is the new editor!