The ASUCLA Communications Board appointed Alexandra Crosnoe as editor in chief of the Daily Bruin for the 2026-27 academic year.
Crosnoe, a third-year public affairs student from Dallas, Texas, joined the Bruin in fall 2023 as an intern for the features and student life beat of the News section. She was the 2024-25 national news and higher education editor and is currently the News editor.
Crosnoe has also contributed to the Copy, Arts, Enterprise, Photo, Social Media and Sports sections.
The Daily Bruin staff endorsed Crosnoe during its annual editor in chief hearing Saturday. The Communications Board – which is composed of student appointees, university faculty and alumni representatives – formally appointed Crosnoe to the role Monday.
One of her favorite stories was a piece about UCLA’s elimination of the Community Youth Programs in June, she said. CYP, a 37-year program, provided paid internships and after-school programs to Los Angeles Unified School District schools that house a high percentage of children from low-income families.
“Getting to hear the people’s stories I spoke to and understand how much of an impact the program had on them – it really reminded me of my role as a journalist in comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable,” Crosnoe said.
Arpit Gaind, the Communications Board chair, said Crosnoe displayed confidence and composure when answering the board’s questions.
Jesse Coronado, a professional appointment on the Communications Board, said he was impressed with Crosnoe’s plans to promote learning at the Daily Bruin. Coronado, The Bruin’s editor in chief from 1981-82, added that he appreciated Crosnoe’s vision to make Daily Bruin staffers’ experiences transformative.
“There’s a maturity and experience that she’s bringing to the ground, which we really appreciate,” Gaind said.
Clark Crosnoe, Alex Crosnoe’s father, said she had always been an independent thinker and a self-starter. Alex Crosnoe was interested in current affairs and helping others from a young age, serving as the editor in chief of her high school’s yearbook, added her mother Aparna Crosnoe.
“She has an endless kind of sense of optimism,” Aparna Crosnoe said. “She always tries to find the positive in every situation. And I think because of that, people gravitate towards her.”
Amelia Abell, a third-year neuroscience student and Alex Crosnoe’s roommate, said she has seen Crosnoe’s attentiveness to detail and her commitment to producing news content that reflects both care and accuracy.
“She will drop anything to work on a story or edit a story,” Abell said. “She’s really committed to sharing people’s stories and reporting accurately.”
Dylan Winward, the current editor in chief, said Alex Crosnoe has sensitive news judgement for a range of stories given her experience as News editor and an assistant News editor. This year, she demonstrated her capacity for leadership in her guidance of the Daily Bruin’s coverage on UCLA professor Mark Tramo’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, he added.
Winward, who hired Alex Crosnoe as a news intern and served as her direct editor for three years, said he believes her drive to take on challenging stories sets her apart. He added that he jokingly told her as an intern that if she wanted to be an editor, she would need to have 18 bylines by the time hiring came around during the spring quarter.
Alex Crosnoe reached that milestone by winter quarter of her first year, Winward said.
“(She) would turn around edits faster than anyone else, would pick up stories faster than anyone else,” Winward said. “If I knew I needed a story filling, Alex would always be willing to write it.”
Alex Crosnoe’s leadership comes at a time when student media organizations are facing funding challenges nationwide, Winward said. He added that conventional media is currently experiencing historic layoffs and struggles over editorial independence.
“At the end of the day, something that we have a strong sense of then – that Alex has a particularly strong sense of – is that we’re here to serve the students in the community and the readers,” he said.
Alex Crosnoe said she understands more people are turning to social media for news, adding that she hopes to be more intentional about using those platforms to deliver news to the UCLA community. She said she plans to increase engagement with the Daily Bruin’s reporting by posting more short-form content to keep people informed.
During her tenure at the Daily Bruin, Alex Crosnoe said she is most proud of teaching News contributors, reporters, staff and assistant editors. The most rewarding part of her job is to see their writing and reporting skills improve over time as a result of her mentorship, she added.
“It’s really rare to see this many people gather around a common cause and do it just because they love it – not because of any ulterior motive,” she said. “I’m really inspired by the paper.”
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