OP-ED: A Letter to the Daily Sun

By Sam Nadell, Co-Editor-in-Chief of CU Nooz

Having been a writer for CU Nooz for the past three years, I’ve noticed that, whether we like it or not, the Daily Sun and CU Nooz have been in a little bit of competition. Let me just start by saying that to even be in competition with such a highly regarded college newspaper is an honor in itself. You guys have been around for over a hundred years, keeping Cornell updated on a daily basis, just as your name implies. But I feel now that I need to speak up against the Daily Sun, and call you all out on something that I believe nobody else has the guts to say.

CU Nooz is the best satirical newspaper source on campus, and often I don’t find the Daily Sun funny or satirical at all.

Look, I know this is an unpopular opinion, and certainly a slightly biased one, but I can’t fathom how thousands of Cornell students and faculty read the Daily Sun when their supposedly humorous headlines are mediocre at best! Take this headline as an example: “Elizabeth Garrett Defends Freedom of Speech.” Where’s the funny hook? Where’s the comedic edge that will attract readers to click on the article? Is the joke supposed to be that speech isn’t free because Cornell is charging tuition for it? Because if that’s the case then it’s not coming through in the headline at all. Yet besides all of my complaints, hundreds if not thousands of people probably read this article. I’m baffled!

I don’t mean to toot our own horn, but at CU Nooz we’ve come to think that we’re getting pretty decent at this whole satire thing, and it’s hard to break into any new market when there’s an incredibly similar product already there. You can imagine how frustrating it is for us, then, to post similar yet funnier articles than the Sun but get significantly less recognition! When Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York came to campus, CU Nooz wrote an article titled “Students Excited to See Every Human of New York,” the joke being that instead of just the HONY guy coming to Bailey Hall, every person in New York would be there. A few days later, the Daily Sun published an eerily similar article with the headline “Interview with HONY Photographer Brandon Stanton,” totally undermining our joke for a cheap one of your own. I will admit though that the idea of interviewing someone and putting it as an article is pretty funny.  

Again, I want to restate that we at CU Nooz have the utmost respect for the Daily Sun, but I think after 135 years, there’s a new sheriff in town. And it’s us. CU Nooz. So keep writing your satirical articles if you’d like, but just know that we’re coming for you, and I bet that in a few months or years we’ll be the laughing stock of the whole school.

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