My new job as editor-in-chief of The Daily Evergreen is to be in your service.

I don’t mean I’m going to be your housekeeper or assistant, but journalism is entirely about serving the readers. That is my main goal as the new EIC this semester.

When I began my career at the Evergreen in fall 2017, I dreamt of being the editor and what that would mean. In my naivety, I thought of the influence I would have and what I could accomplish. But at that point, I wasn’t considering the real mission.

Above all else, the roles of media in society are empowering readers to act. The work of writers and photographers throughout history has led to dramatic changes in policy, perspective and purpose for influential figures and average citizens alike.

This was made possible by the work of great journalists like Edward R. Murrow, Nellie Bly, Gloria Steinem, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and many others. But all their efforts would be for nothing without the readers and listeners who heard their words and acted.

You are the reason we write, the reason we fight for the truth.

This semester the Evergreen will renew its focus on you, the reader. Without the community, there would be no reason to keep doing our jobs. We’re certainly not in it for the money — we don’t get paid enough to be greedy.

In an ideal world the Evergreen represents students and community members from all backgrounds equally. If you aren’t satisfied, let us know why and suggest how we can improve our coverage.

This semester we also hope to increase our use of multimedia storytelling. With the ways that journalism is evolving it makes sense to develop more ways to involve the community and make our content more accessible to everyone.

Throughout the course of the semester we intend to host a weekly podcast published on Sundays where we will discuss current events, present editorial comments and host prominent figures from the WSU and Pullman community.

In order to serve you, we have to communicate. If you write letters to the editor, comment on our social media and discuss issues on our podcast, we promise to listen and act on your behalf.

Another principle of journalism — and a phrase Jacob Jones, our former content adviser, was fond of — is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

In a practical sense this means our job is to protect average citizens and keep powerful individuals and organizations in check.

By bringing awareness to issues in our community we hope to change your lives for the better, even if it’s in small ways.

To accomplish this mission we intend to seek out ways to help our community and advocate for change in a fair and unbiased manner.

You can help us do this by engaging with our content — even if you are critical. In order to be better, we need your feedback.

If we serve you in any capacity this semester, my hope is that one piece you read in the paper helped you make a decision, prompted you to act or encouraged you to think in new ways. If that happens then I know we will have succeeded.

We may be students, we may not get it right every time, you may not even like us very much right now, but we are working hard every day.

We are here listening, if nothing more.