The Morehead-Cain

DTH editor candidate: Jarrard Cole visualizes a more streamlined paper
By Matt Steyl
The Daily Tar Heel

Jarrard Cole has an eye for design and an appetite for efficiency.

Cole, who is from Georgia and serves as visual managing editor for The Daily Tar Heel, said he envisions leading a more streamlined newspaper.

And he hopes to accomplish this goal as next year’s editor-in-chief.

Cole said he wants to preserve what works well while ensuring there is less bureaucracy.

“Streamlining the paper will improve the workflow within the paper and also improve the quality,” he said.

Cole said he would like to merge some desks to ensure that all editors do a comparable amount of work. He also wants to be more selective when hiring new writers.

“I also want to work to improve transparency and accuracy at the paper,” he said.

Cole said he would accomplish this by encouraging reporters to email their stories to sources after publication, which would help quickly correct errors or misrepresentations.

He said he wants print and online stories to be less separate, ensuring that DTH online content is as consistently updated and robust as its print offerings.

“Because I was a multimedia and photo editor, I have a visual and online background that will allow me to improve what we do on dailytarheel.com,” Cole said.

Last summer, Cole worked for The Wall Street Journal, where he pitched story ideas, edited video and maintained the paper’s Facebook account.

“He was an excellent intern to the point that he didn’t feel like an intern anymore,” said Lauren Goode, writer and multimedia producer for the Wall Street Journal. “I think his editorial judgment is extremely solid.”

He was doing as much as the rest of the staff and more, she said.

His learning experience at The Wall Street Journal and his knack for design has allowed Cole to help his colleagues at the DTH.

“He has helped all of us work as a team,” said Carolann Belk, assistant design editor at the DTH.

“I can tell he is very talented at what he does,” Belk said.

When Cole isn’t in the newsroom, he is on the intramural soccer fields, writing short stories or producing a web television show.

Cole is also a Morehead-Cain Scholar.

Chuck Lovelace, executive director of the Morehead-Cain Foundation, said Cole has an aptitude for using new forms of technology.

“The thing that impresses me most about Jarrard is how creative he is,” Lovelace said.