About The Daily

The Daily is the independent student newspaper for the University of Washington. The Daily is produced exclusively by students, with the exception of three non-student UW staff members who provide fiscal and administrative assistance. Any UW student may work for The Daily and will be paid for their work.

All content and advertising is approved by student staff members with no interference by UW staff or administration for an uncensored press. No non-student staff members review editorial content before publication.

A nine-member Board of Student Publications oversees the newspaper, reviews finances, resolves disputes and selects the editor and advertising manager. The board is comprised of representatives from UW administration, the Faculty Senate, the Department of Communication, ASUW, GPSS, a professional publication and The Daily newsroom.

The Daily began as the Pacific Wave in 1891. It became The Daily in 1909 when the paper began publishing five days a week. The Monday edition of the paper was dropped in 1933 during The Great Depression. The Monday publication resumed in 1985 and has run on schedule ever since.

The uncensored approach to student journalism has been controversial at times, but the First Amendment and Supreme Court decisions guarantee this right for students at the University of Washington.

Former UW Communications professor, Don Pember, stated "While freedom of expression has been considered a basic right for the press in this country for nearly 200 years, this right was not articulated for college and high school newspapers until quite recently. Until the 1960s, college and high school journalists enjoyed about as much freedom of expression as the newspaper's advisor, the high school principal or the college dean was willing to allow."

In the 1967 Supreme Court decision Dickey vs. Alabama, it was ruled "censorship of school papers is allowed only when the exercise of freedom of speech interferes materially and substantially with the requirement of appropriate discipline and order in the school."

It remains as the law today.

UW faculty, staff and students can be proud that this university was a pioneer in clarifying the freedom of student press and that University presidents have defended that Constitutional freedom ever since.

The Daily won the Apple Award at the 2006, 2008 and 2009 College Media Adviser Spring Conventions in New York City for the best overall four-year college tabloid-sized newspaper in the nation. The Daily also earned the Mark of Excellence for the Best Overall College Newspaper from the Society of Professional Journalists Region X for 2007 and 2008.