The Diamondback is the award-winning independent student newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. It was founded in 1910 as The Triangle and renamed in 1921 in honor of a local reptile, the Diamondback terrapin. Until March 2020, the print edition of the newspaper was published once a week on Monday, with a print circulation of 8,000, down from a high of more than 21,000, and what used to be annual advertising revenues of more than $1 million. It was usually twelve to sixteen pages. The Diamondback now publishes a daily digital-only edition during the school year which can be found at dbknews.com. The paper's current independent status was originally intended as punishment—the Board of Regents cut off student funding after The Diamondback's actions in 1971, when it ran two pages blank in protest of campus censorship and placed tombstones on its editorialpage in protest of the Vietnam War. The paper's offices are located on the third floor of the South Campus Dining Hall, across from the WMUC-FM radio station and the University of Maryland's Residence Hall Association office.
Sections
The Diamondback is split into four sections:
News - The news section covers both on- and off-campus news, specifically in the region of College Park, Maryland, but also expands coverage to Annapolis, Maryland, when the state's legislature is in session.
Diversions - The entertainment section contains reviews of movies and music, as well as concerts and plays around the College Park region.
Sports - The sports section covers University of Maryland athletics, including men's basketball and football. This section often has a combination of news and opinion articles.
Awards
The Diamondback has received many awards throughout its history for categories including photography, news writing and cartoons, especially from the Society of Professional Journalists. For the 2012-2013, 2015 and 2016 school years, The Diamondback was named the Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper in Region 2 of the Society of Professional Journalists. For the 2010-2011 school year, The Diamondback received a first-place Mark of Excellence award for its region, and saw several of its journalists go on to win individual national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, including for column writing and sports reporting. For the 2008-2009 school year, The Diamondback placed second in the national Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards ranking of daily student newspapers. It received the first-place award for its region. For the 2005-2006 school year, The Diamondback received a Mark of Excellence award, placing 3rd nationally for Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper and placing first in its region in the same category.
Alumni
Journalists
Notable journalists who worked at The Diamondback include:
Jayson Blair, former journalist for The New York Times. Blair achieved nationwide notoriety as a journalist at the Times for serious reporting errors, fabrication of facts, and plagiarism. A letter signed by 30 former Diamondback staffers regarding the situation with Blair also complained about the lack of involvement by the board that owns the paper.
Jack Kelley, former USA Today international correspondent who resigned after fabricating major stories and plagiarizing on at least two dozen occasions
David Mills, a former features writer for The Washington Times and The Washington Post. Mills also found success in Hollywood. He was a television writer for NYPD Blue from 1995 to 1997. He also wrote several episodes of ' and ER. In 2003, he created Kingpin, an NBC miniseries. He won two Emmy Awards.
Frank Cho's strip Liberty Meadows started as a cartoon strip called University2 for The Diamondback.
Aaron McGruder's comic strip The Boondocks first premiered in The Diamondback in 1997. The comic has since gone on to widespread success in syndication, and has its own television show.
Jeff Kinney's comic strip Igdoof ran in The Diamondback in the early 1990s. He writes and illustrates the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series and web comic.
