North Texas Daily

Caitlyn Jones / Editor-in-Chief

The Publications Committee met Wednesday afternoon to choose a new editor for the North Texas Daily to serve during the upcoming summer and fall terms.

The 12-person committee unanimously selected graduate student Edward Balusek for the summer and journalism junior Nicholas Friedman for the fall. Both were the sole applicants for their respective positions.

Balusek held the position of visuals editor for the past year and has also served as a writer and photographer throughout his time with the Daily. He graduated in December 2014 with a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary art and design studies before continuing his education as a graduate student.

He will now head up the production of On The Record magazine, a publication put out by the Daily during the summer.

“The last couple of years, we’ve been able to take big strides in our visual aspect,” he said. “I think that translates, especially into the summer, because we have more pages to play with, more content to play with, so we have more creative freedom.”

Balusek worked as the visuals editor for the magazine last summer and said he is determined to improve both the staff and the product.

“Our hard news content last summer really fell off. We were really only concerned about fracking,” he said.“Now, with all of the things happening on campus with the Union being built, Sack & Save being bought, the highway being expanded, we have an arsenal of hard news stuff. That’s one thing I really want to stay on top of.”

Friedman will take over leadership in fall 2015 when the North Texas Daily goes back to print.

Previously, he has served as a features writer, design editor and features editor for the Daily.

He is currently an arts and entertainment intern at the Denton Record-Chronicle and will work as a breaking news intern at The Dallas Morning News in the fall.

“I’ve kind of experienced every part of newspaper production during my time with the Daily,” Friedman said. “I know the ins and outs of being a writer, being a designer. I’ve taken photos, I’ve edited. That’s an interesting leadership quality to have that you can empathize with every member of your staff.”

Friedman said he hopes to apply his experience in the newsroom to new procedures involving breaking news and coverage of campus clubs.

“One of my challenges is going to be communication with organizations and administration, which we’ve already started working on improving this semester and I hope to continue that next semester,” he said. “I want to make sure nothing is one-sided and that everyone gets a voice.”

Sports editor Akshay Mirchandani has been with the Daily as a writer and editor for two years and worked closely with Friedman and Balusek. He said he believes both men are a good fit for their upcoming roles.

“They’re both really good guys, but I think both have a switch that they can turn on and lay down the law if they need to,” he said. “They’ve got the foundation and now they can take it and build on it.”

Journalism professor Gary Ghioto is entering his third semester as the faculty advisor in the fall. He said he is looking forward to continuing efforts to improve the quality of both the online and print products.

“What people forget about this paper is it’s reporting news online, on social media and in print with a relatively small and dedicated staff seven days a week,” he said. “It’s an enormous undertaking and it’s not easy to do for any newspaper, but Nick and Ed have a good team and the Mayborn School of Journalism to help do that.”

Featured image: Visuals Editor Edward Balusek, left, was chosen to be the editor-in-chief for the summer and Features Editor Nicholas Friedman was selected for the fall semester. Photo by Caitlyn Jones – Editor-in-Chief