Ethan Edward Coston Elected 2019-20 Managing Editor

Arlene Banuelos / The Triton

Ethan Edward Coston was elected as Managing Editor of The Triton for the 2019-20 school year by The Triton’s Editorial Board in late Winter Quarter, and he took office in Week 5 of Spring Quarter.

Coston is a third-year Political Science major, double minoring in Sociology and Law & Society in John Muir College. Coston joined The Triton in early Fall 2017 and served as a Staff Writer for Fall and Winter Quarter 2018 and then became an Assistant News Editor in Spring Quarter 2018. Outside of The Triton, Coston serves as the Web Editor for The MQ.

“My goal as lead of the student government beat was to expand our coverage from just AS to other government entities that have an impact on students’ lives,” Coston said. “When covering policy, my focus was to break through the jargon and explain a bill in a way that is understandable, so students can be better informed about what various government bodies are doing that impacts them.”

Currently, Coston is transitioning the student government beat to new Assistant News Editor Vrinda Chauhan and aims to expand its coverage. As Managing Editor, he hopes to build a graphic design team, improve the website, and work with the new Editor-in-Chief, Ella Chen, to boost recruitment and retention. As part of his goals, Coston wants to implement paper-wide fact-checking procedures to maintain transparency of The Triton.

“We have had several times when our fact checking system has failed over the years, and each [failure] damages the reputation of the paper and contributes to the spread of misinformation,” Coston said. “Once I establish paper-wide fact checking guidelines, I hope to publish them on our website so [that] we can be more transparent about our editing process.”

Coston succeeds former Managing Editor Isabelle Yan. Prior to becoming Managing Editor, Yan was Copy Editor and has worked to maintain the integrity of the paper and its content flow for each of its sections.

“Whether it’s holding UC-wide administrators and student government leaders accountable, combing through police logs and other public records, or taking on sexual assault investigations, there are few people as dedicated to the campus community as Ethan,” Yan said. “I know he’s going to excel in the role of managing editor, and I’m already so proud of where he’s pushing our coverage.”

The 2019-20 Editorial Board is as follows: