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Editorial: The Daily’s Statement of Principles

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According to The McGill Daily’s by-laws, the editorial board must print The Daily’s Statement of Principles near the beginning of each publishing year.

2.1 The fundamental goal of The McGill Daily shall be to serve as a critical and constructive forum for the exchange of ideas and information about McGill University and related communities.

2.2 Within this optic, the staff of The Daily recognizes that all events and issues are inherently political, involving relations of social and economic power. Further, we recognize that at present power is unevenly distributed, especially (but not solely) on the basis of gender, age, social class, race, sexuality, religion, disability, and cultural identity. We also recognize that keeping silent about this situation helps to perpetuate inequality. To help correct these inequities, to the best of its staff’s abilities, The Daily should depict and analyze power relations accurately in its coverage.

2.3 As an autonomous student newspaper, relatively free from commercial and other controls, The Daily can best serve its purposes by examining issues and events most media ignore. In particular, it should deal with the role post secondary education plays in constructing and maintaining the current order. It should also assist students and other groups working for change in a critical framework, with the aim of empowering and giving a voice to individuals and communities marginalized on the basis of the criteria mentioned in section 2.2. The Daily’s methods should be both educative and active, and determined democratically by its staff.

2.4 Finally, we recognize that The Daily must remain accessible to the student community it comes from, and should abide by an ethic of fairness while maintaining its autonomy.