The Daily Pennsylvanian
Encyclopedia
The Daily Pennsylvanian (The DP) is the independent daily student newspaper
of the University of Pennsylvania
.
It is published every weekday when the university is in session by a staff of more than 250 students. During the summer months, a smaller staff produces a weekly version called The Summer Pennsylvanian. The DP also publishes a weekly arts and entertainment magazine called 34th Street Magazine and a weekly newspaper mailed to parents and alumni called The Weekly Pennsylvanian. The DP operates three principal web sites — thedp.com, 34st.com, and underthebutton.com — as well as a variety of opinion, news, and sports blogs.
. The DP broke away from the university in 1962 to become an independent publication, incorporating in 1984 to solidify its financial and editorial independence
from the university. Today the newspaper's budget is funded primarily through the sale of advertising by a student business staff.
), and because many of its staff members go on to pursue careers in the print, broadcast, and electronic media. DP alumni can be found at a number of major daily newspapers and national magazines, including The Wall Street Journal
, The New York Times
, The Washington Post
, the Los Angeles Times
, The Philadelphia Inquirer
, Time
, and Business Week.
, awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, for a record-setting fourth consecutive year. It also won the award in 1990, 1997, and 1998, and most recently in 2007. Several of its writers win Gold Circles from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association every year. It was also ranked as the "most read" college newspaper by The Princeton Review
in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 2001. In 2006, College Publisher
awarded the DP first place in the category of Best Online Sports Coverage and, in 2008, it was awarded an online Gold Crown for thedp.com.
Student newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
It is published every weekday when the university is in session by a staff of more than 250 students. During the summer months, a smaller staff produces a weekly version called The Summer Pennsylvanian. The DP also publishes a weekly arts and entertainment magazine called 34th Street Magazine and a weekly newspaper mailed to parents and alumni called The Weekly Pennsylvanian. The DP operates three principal web sites — thedp.com, 34st.com, and underthebutton.com — as well as a variety of opinion, news, and sports blogs.
History
Founded in 1885, the newspaper has been published daily since 1894, except for a hiatus from May 1943 to November 1945 on account of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The DP broke away from the university in 1962 to become an independent publication, incorporating in 1984 to solidify its financial and editorial independence
Editorial independence
Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. Editorial independence is tested, for instance, if a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising clientele....
from the university. Today the newspaper's budget is funded primarily through the sale of advertising by a student business staff.
Description
The DP is sometimes called Penn's "unofficial journalism department," because the university has no journalism department (though it does have the prestigious Annenberg School for CommunicationAnnenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
The Annenberg School for Communication is the communications school at the University of Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1958 by Wharton School's alum Walter Annenberg as "The Annenberg School of Communications." The name was changed to its current title in the late 1980's.Walter...
), and because many of its staff members go on to pursue careers in the print, broadcast, and electronic media. DP alumni can be found at a number of major daily newspapers and national magazines, including The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, and Business Week.
Awards
The Daily Pennsylvanian has won many of the most prestigious awards in college journalism. In 2008, the newspaper was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists' National Mark of Excellence Award. In the same year, the paper won the Spring 2008 Columbia Gold Crown, awarded to only eight college newspapers nationwide, an award it has won many times before. It also received first place in the Associated Collegiate Press's Kansas City Convention Best of Show Competition in 2008. In 2004, the DP won the PacemakerNational Pacemaker Awards
The National Pacemaker Awards are awards for excellence in American student journalism, given annually since 1927. The awards are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field, and are unofficially known as the "Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism."The National Scholastic...
, awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, for a record-setting fourth consecutive year. It also won the award in 1990, 1997, and 1998, and most recently in 2007. Several of its writers win Gold Circles from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association every year. It was also ranked as the "most read" college newspaper by The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 2001. In 2006, College Publisher
College Publisher
College Publisher is an online hosted college newspaper system used by hundreds of college newspapers around the United States. The product is an application service provider that provides web site design and hosting...
awarded the DP first place in the category of Best Online Sports Coverage and, in 2008, it was awarded an online Gold Crown for thedp.com.
Notable former staff members
- George Wharton Pepper 1887 (DP Editor-in-Chief), U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
- Josiah Penniman 1890 (DP Editor-in-Chief), president, University of Pennsylvania
- Owen Roberts 1895 (DP Editor-in-Chief), associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court
- Josiah McCrackenJosiah McCrackenJosiah Calvin McCracken nicknamed Joe, was born into a devout Presbyterian family in Lincoln, Tennessee. His earliest known Ulster-Scots ancestors settled in Pennsylvania before the French & Indian War...
1900 (DP Associate Editor), physician; silver and bronze medalist, 1900 Olympic Games - Wilson Hobson Jr. '24 (DP Editorial Board), bronze medalist, 1932 Olympic Games
- John Haines Ware III '30 (DP staff), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
- John Mayer '32 (DP Editorial Board), chairman and CEO, Mellon Bank
- Charles AddamsCharles AddamsCharles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
'33 (DP staff), cartoonist - Leonard LauderLeonard LauderLeonard A. Lauder is chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. He was chief executive until 1999. Today Estée Lauder operates several brands in the cosmetics industry including Estée Lauder, Clinique, MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Bobbi Brown and La Mer...
'54 (DP staff), chairman and CEO, Estee Lauder Companies - Michael Stuart BrownMichael Stuart BrownMichael Stuart Brown is an American geneticist and Nobel Laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph L. Goldstein in 1985 for describing the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.- Life and career :...
'62 (DP Editor-in-Chief), physician; 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Claudia CohenClaudia CohenClaudia Lynn Cohen was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter.-Early life and education:...
'62 (DP staff), gossip columnist, socialite and television reporter - Richard Fisher '63 (DP Exec. Editor), New York real estate developer
- Mary Hadar '65 (DP Managing Editor), editor, Style, The Washington Post
- Lee Eisenberg, '68 (DP reporter), editor, Esquire magazine
- Arnold EisenArnold EisenArnold M. Eisen, Ph.D. is Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University...
'73 (DP reporter), chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary - Benjamin GinsbergBenjamin GinsbergBenjamin L. Ginsberg is a partner and lobbyist for Patton Boggs LLP, where he has represented political parties, political campaigns, candidates, members of Congress and state legislatures, Governors, corporations, trade associations, businesses, and individuals participating in the political...
'74 (DP Editor-in-Chief), partner, Patton Boggs - Rick Dunham '75 (DP columnist), Washington bureau chief, Houston Chronicle
- Buzz Bissinger '76 (DP Editorial Page Editor), author, "Friday Night LightsFriday Night LightsFriday Night Lights is a 2004 drama film which documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, was authored by H. G...
"; 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting - David A. GrossDavid A. GrossAmbassador David A. Gross is one of the world’s foremost experts on international telecommunications, having served for nearly eight years as the senior United States government official responsible for representing the U.S. on global telecommunications issues. During his lengthy tenure, he...
'76, (DP staff) U.S. ambassador - Erik LarsonErik LarsonErik Larson is an American author. He has written Isaac's Storm , about the experiences of Isaac Cline during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America , about the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a series of...
'76, (DP staff) author, "The Devil in the White CityThe Devil in the White CityThe Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America is a 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novelistic style. The book is based on real characters and events. Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the film rights in 2010.The book is set in Chicago circa...
" - Steve Stecklow '76 (DP reporter), staff writer, The Wall Street Journal; 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
- Lisa ScottolineLisa ScottolineLisa Scottoline is an American author of legal thrillers. Her novels have been translated into 25 languages.Scottoline was born in Philadelphia and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a degree in English. In 1981, she received a Juris Doctorate from the...
'77 (DP staff), author of legal thrillers - Keith Epstein '79, executive editor, Huffington Post Investigative Fund
- Dave Lieber '79 (DP columnist), columnist, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- John Daniszewski '79 (DP City Editor), international editor, Associated Press
- Steven Fried '79 (34th Street Editor), author; 1994 National Magazine Award for Public Interest
- Richard Stevenson '81 (DP Exec. Editor), deputy Washington bureau chief, New York Times
- Michael Bamberger '82 (DP reporter), senior writer, Sports Illustrated
- Howard Gensler '83 (34th Street Editor), columnist, Philadelphia Daily News
- Peter Canellos '84 (DP Exec. Editor), editorial page editor, Boston Globe
- Stefan FatsisStefan FatsisStefan Fatsis is an author and journalist. He regularly appears as a guest on National Public Radio's All Things Considered daily radio news program and as a panelist on Slate's sports podcast Hang Up and Listen. He is a former staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal.-Biography:Fatsis grew up...
'85, Wall Street Journal reporter; author, "Word Freak" - Jeffrey GoldbergJeffrey GoldbergJeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
'87 (DP Exec. Editor), national correspondent, Atlantic Monthly; 2003 National Magazine Award - Alan SchwarzAlan SchwarzAlan Schwarz is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter at the The New York Times best known for writing more than 100 articles that exposed the seriousness of concussions among football players of all ages...
'90, reporter for the New York Times. - Cenk UygurCenk UygurCenk Kadir Uygur , is the main host and co-founder of the liberal Internet and talk radio show, The Young Turks . A naturalized U.S. citizen, Uygur was born in Turkey and raised from age eight in the United States. He worked as an attorney in Washington D.C. and New York before beginning his career...
'92 (DP columnist), host of TheYoungTurks. - Harold Ford Jr. '92 (DP columnist), U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Matt SelmanMatt SelmanMatthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
'93 (34th Street Editor), producer, "The Simpsons" - Stephen Glass '94 (DP Exec. Editor), disgraced former New Republic writer
- Josh TyrangielJosh TyrangielJosh Tyrangiel is a journalist, and editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. He joined the magazine following its acquisition by Bloomberg L.P. in December 2009. Prior to joining Bloomberg Businessweek, Tyrangiel was deputy managing editor of TIME magazine and managing editor of TIME.com...
'94 (34th Street Editor), editor, Bloomberg BusinessWeek - Charles OrnsteinCharles OrnsteinCharles Ornstein is a reporter for ProPublica.Ornstein is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he was editor of the college newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian.In 1999-2000, he was a Media Fellow with the Henry J...
'96 (DP Exec. Editor), senior reporter, ProPublica; 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service