College Media Matters

Time 2020-07-16 17:05:20

Web Name: College Media Matters

WebSite: http://www.collegemediamatters.com

ID:26751

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When the football teams for the University of Georgia and University of Florida play next month, only one will emerge victorious. But both student newspapers will win.That s because the two newsrooms are teaming up to cover their schools 96-year-old rivalry. The Red Black and Independent Florida Alligator will publish a joint Rivalry Issue which will be both a journalistic first and a fundraising opportunity for both papers.The issue will be split in half, with each side having its own cover. You ll read it from the front or the back. The content gets flipped over 180 degrees at the double truck, so each school is read one way, says Shaun O Connor, The Alligator s general manager. Then the paper is flipped over for the other school. The special issue will be distributed on both campuses starting Oct. 30, three days before the big game, which is traditionally played in the neutral site of Jacksonville, Florida. We re excited to embark on a new adventure to bring valuable content to our readership, says Collin Huguley, The Red Black s editor and a past sports editor and football beat reporter. We re looking forward to working with The Alligator to provide great coverage of one of college football s greatest events. For his part, O Connor is looking forward to making money after all, that s his job. Besides the unique sales pitch, both papers will challenge their alumni and supporters to donate at least $25, which entitles them to receive a free copy of this commemorative issue. Each paper has its own branded donation page, here for The Alligator and here for The Red Black.O Connor s counterpart is Red Black publisher Rebecca Burns, who s also excited about the revenue possibilities. Like all news operations, independent student newsrooms face extraordinary financial pressures, Burns says. We also have a unique mission to train and cultivate as many journalists as possible. If we re doing our jobs, our newsrooms grow, rather than get slashed. But that takes resources. The two papers couldn t have chosen a better year to undertake this novel project. Both football teams are currently among the Top 10 in the nation, with the Georgia Bulldogs at five and the Florida Gators at 10. If it works, will both papers reprise their joint venture? Neither wants to say until they can judge the results. But theirs isn t the first such effort. Duke and the University of North Carolina created this concept back in February for their basketball game, O Connor says. While this is the first time it s being done for football, O Connor praises Duke and UNC: There s no question they created the blueprint for the rest of us to follow. Want to plan your own joint issue? Email College Media Matters for details.College media isn t an easy thing to tackle. Unless you are someone who is directly involved in some sort of media on a college campus, chances are, you don t realize how difficult it really is to be a part of one. One thing that has significantly and consistently helped me navigate these difficulties is attending the College Media Mega Workshop. These conferences are a fun and practical way to learn how to deal with the everyday challenges of being a student journalist. MINNEAPOLIS The College Media Mega Workshop happens every summer in Minnesota, and provides students with the unique opportunity of picking a track which suits them best. I attended this mega workshop three yes, three times throughout my college career. Each time I went, I had a ton of fun and walked away with valuable information that I carried with me throughout my leadership roles at my college newspaper, The Hawks Herald, at Roger Williams University. In July of 2016, I pursued the visual storytelling track, where our group paraded around Dinkytown and the University of Minnesota looking for a powerful story to tell. I was photo editor for The Herald at the time, and doing this track helped me think outside of the box when it came to taking photographs. Bradley Wilson was a super fun instructor and taught us everything from setting up the shot to post-production editing. To make things even cooler, a Drum Corps competition was going on at the time, and we were given VIP media passes to go into the stadium where the drummers were performing and take photographs. We were assigned a specific person to take pictures of, and for those who have never seen a drum corps perform, they do not stand still as they drum. They were constantly moving around as they performed, and I loved the challenge of trying to keep up with my assigned target (which was even more challenging with the fluffy hats they wore, hiding their faces). In July of 2017, I biked around Minneapolis with a GoPro on my Nice Ride bike to create a package for the Digital Journalism track. Myself and a few friends I made came up with a cool video that depicted exactly what these bikes were for, and how they helped the environment. Going into my senior year in 2018, I was set to start my role as editor-in-chief. One of my biggest goals for our paper was to make it more contemporary and attractive to the students on our campus. Unfortunately, one thing that was (and still isn t) a strong suit of mine is design. In July of 2018, I decided to try the Design/Redesign track to enhance my design skills and learn more about how to structure things. After the first day, I realized it was not the right track for me and decided to switch to the Organizational Leadership track. This ended up being the perfect fit for me. I learned what to do and what not to do as a leader in the newsroom, and also how to handle conflicts as they arise. Overall, this workshop is a great one to attend because every single year you are given the opportunity to try something completely different than you did before. For me, as I moved up the ladder from photo editor to managing editor to editor-in-chief, I was able to gain knowledge on each of those roles before I had even officially stepped into them. More importantly, the connections I made during these workshops are some that I still have today. I was able to connect with some friends from the Iowa State Daily who helped me create a more modern look for our newspaper. I met some photography friends from California and Washington who gave me a new perspective on taking photographs. And on top of that, the University of Minnesota is one of the greatest campuses to be located on. Going to the Mall of America and Dinkytown are some of my favorite places, and I will be visiting again in the future. I recently resigned my position at a prominent and established Christian university at which I was adviser to our magazine. The year I resigned, we won ACP/CMA s coveted Pacemaker award for Best Feature Magazine. Yet during the three years I advised the magazine, my staff was subject to a form of censorship we don t often recognize. My writers and editors, tired of puff journalism such as Easy Dorm Snacks, wanted to tackle the larger issues pertaining to their Christian faith; issues the institution and the church struggled with, such as the sex industry, LGBTQ+ issues, masculinity and femininity within Christianity, and a host of other timely and pertinent topics. Over that three years, we won not only the Pacemaker, but a number of other awards, yet I was dogged by the administration over multiple, seemingly minor issues that I now recognize as censorship of my students right to free speech and to freedom of the press.These began as small items. Articles based on personal experience were criticized as unfounded opinion. The administration asked for language changes, title changes, and asked us not to cover hot button topics altogether. At one point, my senior creative director and I spent hours with X-Acto knives excising a page that contained an art piece deemed offensive, and destroyed all remaining intact copies. Ironically, one article covering psychological damage caused by Purity Culture (the indoctrination of young girls into an pledge from daughter to father that that child would remain a virgin until marriage), was lambasted by a member of the administration and just a month later, went on to win an award from the American Advertising Federation. The magazine kept winning, and winning yet we were constantly advised to avoid issues altogether, to make our publication less controversial and more true to the University s audience. All of these relatively minor acts: a title change, a few words here and there, avoiding topics altogether, added up to a persistent, dangerous, and tenacious form of censorship which I now recognize as toxic not only to First Amendment rights but to academic freedom itself.I empathized with the administration s point of view completely. They relied heavily on donor funding to keep the university afloat financially. At the end of the day, their job was to keep us financially sound, a difficult task highly dependent on public opinion, donor values, and even the church itself. Our president was continually hounded on social and other media which criticized the institution s perceived deviation from its core faith and values. The administrators were not our enemies; they were simply in a difficult position.However, when my editorial staff explained that the magazine was a student-led publication, designed by students for students, and that we always published a disclaimer, our top administrator asked, What if the magazine fell into the wrong hands? The wrong hands were, of course, our conservative alumni, donors, and the church. I am sorry to say that fear won, freedom was lost, and my students forced to write within a mold they found outdated and restrictive.Do college students check their First Amendment rights at the door when they enter a Christian college, or indeed any private institution? The unfortunate answer is that as long as the institution itself does not have a media or free speech policy, the answer is yes. My rights as an employee were bound as well, due to a clause in my contract and frankly, due to my own weakness and fear. The result? Because of the institution s desire to put donor funding, public opinion, and fear of reprisal first, every single reader of this award-winning publication missed an important challenge to their faith, and the opportunity to read about issues vital to our young people, the next leaders, the next difference-makers. To those who censored our articles, art, and subject matter, I must ask. As an American, do you believe in freedom of the press for all, or will you silence a powerless and marginalized group students by curtailing their voices out of fear?I know where I stand. I resigned, and am now preparing for a career in law, specifically First Amendment rights. Thus I will fight as an attorney. As for my students, I hope this experience did not damage their confidence, and that they will continue to speak and write powerful, truthful words, words that challenge assumptions and cause a staid minority an uncomfortable opportunity to think.The University of Arizona is experiencing some growing pains, and sadly student media is bearing a good bit of that pain. As The Daily Wildcat reported, a new Global Center will move into the Park Student Union. And student media will move out including the radio station that just moved to the student union. You can read full reporting on the situation here, but it should be noted that UA student media isn t so much upset about moving as they are about the lack of communication and lack of student involvement in the plan. In addition to the DW, student media includes KAMP Student Radio and UATV. According to the story, KAMP just moved to the center to be with the other student media at a cost of $32,000. We spent the money to move the radio station, and it was many, many thousands of dollars because of soundproofing radio booths and rewiring and physical move. That money is down the drain, because we now have to go move as a department somewhere else, adviser Brett Fera said in the article. While the university has offered a statement that claims student media will be housed in equitable surroundings soon, nothing is set in stone yet. In the past month, the editor in chief of the Daily Cougar at the University of Houston took to Twitter in an effort to ensure that all the student newspaper s print copies made it to the stands.According to the editor, Jasmine Davis, the Cougar is delivered by a campus entity, Printing and Postal, which falls under Auxiliary Services, because it s a large campus, so it just isn t feasible for students to deliver the papers ourselves. She said papers haven t been delivered properly for years, and last year s editor in chief tried to address the situation via Twitter as well. According to Jasmine, after working tirelessly through Hurricane Harvey to get a print edition out as soon as classes resumed, the papers weren t delivered on time. Printing and Postal didn t deliver it until the day before the next issue came out, so that edition was on stands for less than 24 hours, she said. Jasmine said there are problems at the beginning of semesters and when there are weather closures. Printing and Postal s response to those situations has always been that they weren t able to deal with the increase in deliveries, she said. According to Jasmine, the adviser and director would follow the specific course of action to take when deliveries didn t happen, but they never saw long-term results. This system wasn t working for anyone. [W}hat are [the professional staffers] supposed to do when the system in place to remedy these problems is broken? The staff was instructed to take photos of empty racks and email P P, but the campus is huge and the staff doesn t have the time to monitor all the stops, she said. Additionally, the Cougar is paying for the papers to be delivered. [W]hy are we paying a department to do the leg work of delivering our newspapers if we have to walk to all the stands anyway, Jasmine said. While Jasmine said she doesn t blame Printing and Postal entirely, she said no one was holding them accountable and that they possibly weren t getting the support they need.When meetings and emails weren t working, Jasmine took to her personal Twitter to try to get the situation remedied. Because most of her followers are UH students, professional journalists and current and former members of the Cougar s staff, she felt she might find some help. I knew [my followers] would have a better understanding of why not delivering the student paper is an issue, and I knew I could count on those people to have The Cougar s back, she said. These are people who have been in our shoes and want student journalism to succeed, and I don t think another audience would have been able to help the way ours did this week. But she said the move to Twitter was significant in other ways. It s also important to recognize that student journalists have a lot of power, especially in this age of multimedia journalism, Jasmine said. We re in an era where you can report an entire story on social media, and I don t think accountability journalism should be any different. She said she felt she had more power than even university employees and wishes she had realized it earlier. I also wonder how many more things we could change just by talking about them on social media, Jasmine said.While the Twitter method worked, and the Cougar has been on all the racks, Jasmine said there are other benefits to working through this situation. She said that knowing that the Student Press Law Center would support her, she felt empowered. I knew the University couldn t make me take the tweet down or otherwise punish anyone at The Cougar, she said. I knew what was happening was wrong, and I knew that myself and the other editors on our editorial board had a lot more freedom to take a stand than our University-employed support system. She said she also thinks student journalists need to understand that sometimes they will become the news. I think it s important that student journalists be able to recognize when it s time to write about themselves, Jasmine said. For us, it really boiled down to realizing this issue mattered to more than just the students on The Cougar s staff. She said realizing that the general student wasn t getting what they paid for helped encourage the staff to pursue the story. Not every student reads our newspaper, but the ones who do deserve access to our coverage, Jasmine said. Even if they don t read The Cougar, they deserve for their money to be used properly not paying someone to do a job they clearly aren t doing. She said the situation also gave the Cougar a chance to make the university better by making sure all departments got the support they needed. At the end of the day, student journalists have a lot of power in making sure the University is better tomorrow than it is today. Theodore Kim, director of newsroom fellowships and internships at the New York Times, stirred up the college media community when he tweeted his list of the top journalism programs in the country. These are the schools he says churn out consistently productive candidates. They are Columbia, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Yale. His first tier of honorable mentions includes Missouri, Harvard, Florida, USC, Duke and Stanford. His second tier of honorable mentions lists Howard, Texas, Maryland, UPenn, Cornell, UNC, Syracuse, Illinois, Arizona State, Colorado State, Florida A M, NYU, Miami of Ohio, Western Kentucky, UC San Diego and the Newmark School.Vince Filak, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, wrote his own blog post debunking Kim s rating of the top J-programs. Filak attended UW-Oshkosh with Jim VandeHei, who left a reporting job at The Washington Post to found Politico and later Axios. He did not attend an Ivy League school or have an internship at The New York Times or The Washington Post. Filak argues that lists like Kim s are stupid and that journalism students can prove the perceived elitists wrong. It doesn t matter where you go to school. If you want something badly enough and you work hard enough, you ll get something great out of your time as a journalist, he wrote. In a later tweet, Kim apologized to those who found his list narrow and elitist and wrote that he believes people s work and values define them. In an April 2018 Poynter article, he laid out a road map for being a competitive job candidate. In it, Kim writes that the shrinking of the nation s newsrooms has concentrated internships along the coasts at the same time that the dominance of large, prestigious journalism programs has grown. The most prestigious J-schools churn out candidates with credentials that are almost engineered to appeal to recruiters, he wrote. Students speak digital journalism s lingua franca (Habituation! Recirculation! Aggregation!). And those institutions leverage large existing newsroom alumni networks, giving their students a significant edge. He also wrote that The New York Times internship acceptance rate is .05 percent, lower than any other college acceptance rate in the United States. In 2018, the NYT received 5,000 applicants for 25 slots. Since then the NYT internship was mostly replaced, except on the business side, by a year-long fellowship. The Times recently announced the successful candidates for that program. The opportunity again attracted 5,000 applicants from every continent but Antarctica.Of those 2019 fellows, 10 attended institutions in New York state, two in the Midwest, three on the West Coast, one in Canada and six more on the East Coast. Of the schools on Kim s list, Columbia University, UC-Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, the Newmark School, Missouri, UC-San Diego and Howard have students in the fellowship program. All of the successful candidates had significant professional-level experience.Kim said in the Poynter article that the Times values diversity in its internship/fellowship pool and that has changed the way the organization recruits. For instance, he traveled to the International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas, and his newspaper offers a Student Journalism Institute, an all-expenses-paid experience put on with support from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Two-thirds of the 2018 summer interns were students of color. Bill Elsen, who travels the country each year coaching college and high school journalists, worked at The Post for 33-1/2 years and from 1994-2001 was newsroom director of recruiting and hiring. He once did a survey of previous Post interns and found that only a handful came from the Ivy League. But he said you can t really knock the Ivy Leagues as they are smart kids doing journalism often without a traditional program. They re hard to compete against, but we used to look at it as diversity thing, Elsen said. You can t have all Ivy Leaguers. As with The New York Times, diversity in an intern pool is important, Washington Post Managing Editor Tracy Grant said. Many of the Post s successful candidates are from public schools. Certain programs stand out for one skill or another. The Post values a diversity in gender, race, public versus private school and geography. The beauty of conducting a nationwide search for interns is that you do get geographic diversity, she said. Having a person in the room from the center of the country is terrific it s just a different view of the world. It s important to be reminded of that. Having 25 intern slots increases the chance of a diverse group, Elsen said. Most papers don t have that luxury. He encourages students he meets to apply for the top spots no matter where they attend school. He said many students think they can t get a Post internship if they go to UW-Oshkosh, for instance, but that isn t true. Post editors sift through 1,300 to 1,500 applicants each year. Grant said narrowing the pool to 100 applicants is easy. Cutting that group of 100 to 50 is painful, and getting from 50 to 25 is excruciating. If you make that first cut, you are in a pool of people who have done Post quality work or could be doing it, she said. While the job of getting a Post internship is challenging, it s not impossible and there is no better success rate to getting a real job at The Post. I think students should not be daunted by the high-end internships, Grant said. They just need to know you have to be in it to win it, but you have to know what is essential to make it past the first cut. They should have experience in a professional newsroom, particularly a daily newspaper, not just college media, she said. We can t teach you the basics, Grant said. We can take your skills and in the course of 10 weeks raise them to levels you had not thought possible. But college media should be part of that experience, Elsen said, and the work should be high quality. That s the power of the work samples or terrific videos, he said. Kim and Elsen advocated skills in digital and social media, but Grant thinks a journalist s ability to be a jack-of-all trades in order to be a successful candidate is overestimated. The applicants that stand out to her use the 500-word biographical essay (or well-crafted cover letter) to great impact and know what they want to do. I cannot overestimate to students how important that document is, Grant said. That is an opportunity to get a hiring manager to fall in love with you. When the decision between one student and the next comes down to the width of an eyelash difference in quality of work, she said, you re going to pick the kid who turned a great phrase in the cover letter or made you laugh or took you to a place. Kim listed four criteria in his Poynter article that sound familiar:Be committed. Take advantage of every opportunity given to you (scholarships, campus newspapers, internships, fellowships, freelance gigs, journalism groups, career fairs).Get newsroom internships. Most of the people we seriously consider for our internship program already have at least two internships under their belt.Write for your campus publication (or local community outlet). A lot. You need to learn how to write and report basic news stories and build up good news judgment.Think about your narrative. If you came to journalism late and dabbled in other careers or held non-journalism jobs, that s okay. Just make sure that your story makes sense to recruiters and shows your progress as a journalist and as a person.Sometimes success is being ready for an opportunity when it comes along. Elsen worked with a University of Oklahoma freshman who wanted a Post internship. He encouraged her to get one at a small, family-owned weekly newspaper. When she got that internship, her editor pointed out the five-person newsroom, and she realized there was plenty to do. She revamped the newspaper s website, and ultimately became the online editor at The Oklahoman and now covers aerospace and energy for a daily business and legal paper in Oklahoma City. All because she knew how to rejigger someone s website and jack it up, Elsen said. All those things come in handy these days. New York University s student newspaper, the Washington Square News, was criticized by student activists recently for its coverage of campus issues and events. Amanda Lawson, a Truman scholar and Incarceration to Education Coalition (IEC) organizer, tweeted her outrage at coverage of a days -long occupation of the Kimmel Center for University Life in protest of the university s food service contract with Aramark. She called the reporting racist and irresponsible. The Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine agreed with Lawson. I ve been refusing to work with WSN for the past two years after repeated botched coverage of campus activism, Lawson told NYU Local in an email.Washington Square News Editor-in-Chief Sakshi Venkatraman issued a statement in February regarding the WSU s journalistic philosophies. She says in the statement that the WSU wants to give a voice to both activists and the university. During occupation of Kimmel, and NYULocal article states students were threatened for disciplinary action by Mark Wais, Senior Vice President of Student Affairs, if occupation did not end prior to 11 pm. We understand the criticisms raised by some members of the NYU activist community when you re dedicated to a cause, you want that cause to be given the same level of respect and care that you have for it. WSN tries to give voice to both activists and the university. We are committed to factual, accurate reporting, not to any specific group. If some activists choose not to provide comment for our coverage, then we re left to report on what is said in public forums and meetings. We will continue to cover activist causes on campus and request comment from them. We hope in the future they will be willing to work with us, Venkatraman said in the statement The WSN website states that Our independence is our publication s most valuable asset. It states that the WSN is routinely critical of NYU and its leaders and our best stories are ones those in power would prefer the public not see. The NYULOCAL article states the university provides office space to the newspaper free of charge and has covered revenue shortfalls in the past. By fiscal year 2019, its website states, the WSN will be financially independent of the university. Venkatraman said the newspaper is independent of NYU and does not have to submit to prior review from university personnel. We are completely student-run with no university supervision, and we routinely run stories criticizing NYU institutions, Venkatraman said. Examples include: Racial Discrimination and Islamophobia Pervasive in SternIn the Wake of Tragedy, Why Does NYU Keep Sweeping It Under the Rug? Overcoming InaccessibilityNYU Professor and Feminist Scholar Found Responsible for Inappropriate Physical Contact, Sexual Texting Student Trapped for Eight Hours in Broome Laundry Room In the past and even in this most recent event, when WSN is criticized, we reach out to the parties involved to discuss what they perceive to be the flaws in our coverage, Venkatraman said. Some student activists have continually refused to have discussions, citing corrections in the paper that were made semesters ago by staff members who are no longer with WSN. We publicly acknowledge when we make errors and welcome letters to the editor from anyone disagreeing with how we do our jobs. She went on to say, The recent story criticized by some student activists is entitled, Student Government Resolution, Initially on BDS, Drops Political Ties, The story is completely factually correct, and no one has disputed this. What some activists are taking issue with is the use of the phrase so-called BDS Resolution in the deck of the article. The reasoning behind that wording is that the title of the resolution is not BDS Resolution, but it has been referred to as such by students (and WSN). In the past, activists expressed they didn t like it being called the BDS Resolution, so WSN included the phrase so-called so that we could still use the title most students know the resolution by while not suggesting it is the actual title. We serve an audience larger than just the activist community. At the end of the day, WSN has always and will always acknowledge when there is a factual error in our reporting. We also deeply reflect on our coverage when we are criticized like this. We will not, however, change the framing or narrative of a piece to fit with anyone s agenda university, activists or otherwise, Venkatraman said. The University of North Alabama was censured by the College Media Association Nov. 26 for denying the university s student newspaper, the Flor-Ala, access to personnel records for a professor banned from campus during a Title IX investigation. Scott Morris, the newspaper s adviser, was told his job description was being rewritten to require a doctorate so he could no longer be the adviser. This followed publication of an article critical of the administration. The Flor-Ala received further criticism from faculty when FIRE ranked UNA as one of the 10 worst colleges and universities for free speech, because of this situation and a policy that prohibits faculty from speaking to the press.And now, the student newspaper staff was told it may be moving under the awning of the UNA communications building.Editor-in-Chief Harley Duncan said there are no new updates on moving the Flor-Ala to a new space. There has been talk of moving the newspaper and other student media into the communications building. Harley said it wouldn t be a bad thing to have student media in the same building where everyone takes classes. It has a dark room in the upper level that is used by art students. The space is outdated and floods, Harley said. It would need renovation to be usable. He said he recently asked the Department Chair Butler Cain about the move and received a vague answer about what would happen. I have absolutely no idea what they re going to do, he said. The current student media building has no windows and is only one story, according to Harley. Updates have been done but he said, it s kind of nasty in there. Managing editor Karah Wilson met with Dr. Carmen Burkhalter, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in late February to talk about the proposed relocation. Burkhalter told Karah the plan is still to move all of the communications-related entities under one roof, according to Karah. The dean told her if student media does not move its space will have to be renovated. UNA student media includes the Flor-Ala newspaper, Diorama yearbook, and photography and graphic design spaces. Student media at UNA receives funding from the university but has to raise money to pay its printing costs.Karah said the events of the current academic year have taken their tole. I ve become frustrated and stressed out by all of the events happening with the university and the Flor-Ala, she said. Karah is a senior set to graduate in May, and she said it s been tough to go to classes and not know which side the instructor is on. I wouldn t say we ve faced direct retaliation but it s becoming harder to trust I m being treated the same as my classmates when I produce content for classes, she said. It s all-in-all been a long year for all of us, and I know a lot of us are ready to graduate and have that stress and anxiety taken off our shoulders. Harely said he has also received criticism for stories the Flor-Ala published. We need to keep doing our job and we don t need to change, he said. We re a really mature staff, we ve already been through a lot. Karah said in spite of the controversy she has learned more about print journalism at the Flor-Ala than in most of her classes. I m so thankful for the opportunity to work here and have the teammates I have, despite the hardships we ve faced, she said. I am appreciative of Mr. Morris and all he has taught us. I know he wants every single one of us to succeed and flourish in everything we do and I couldn t have asked for a better teacher and mentor through my last year at UNA. The University determined that the Flor-Ala is an educational lab setting, but he s not sure how that will affect operational logistics, or independent news coverage. It will be a lot different I m imagining, Duncan said. For decades Maroon Tiger media has provided education, entertainment and advocacy that embodied the guiding principles of the young institution and showcased the talents of Afro-America s finest young minds. The Maroon Tiger media conglomerate began as a monthly journal called the Athenaum. The name was eventually changed to the Maroon Tiger and during the Roaring Twenties, the publication pioneered a a unique brand of social activism and awareness for the African American Community, according to the Maroon Tiger website, and offers daring journalism and communication to the community while creating a more engaged experience for our readership. Today the Maroon Tiger has expanded its offerings to form the Maroon Tiger Student Media Group, which is comprised of the newspaper, Maroon Tiger Television and Maroon Tiger Business. It provides the only student-led media voice in the Atlanta University Center. Top stories on the Maroon Tiger website on March 5 were student massage therapy classes and an article about the importance of using a water softener. In 2016, the media group launched a new endeavor called Blk Boys that included a magazine, newspaper and website. A student quoted at the time by the HBCU Buzz said This includes an array of content covering the overall spectrum of black male existence and features voices that often fall on deaf ears. At the time the Maroon Tiger tweeted: Black men have many faces and voices, according to a tweet shared on the official The Maroon Tiger Twitter account. Here are a dozen more. The group s Tiger TV News serves as a branch of Tiger TV as a more liberal form of news casting according to its YouTube channel. The freelance style will appeal to its targeted audience: the HBCU students, the site said. Throughout its various coverage platforms, the group adheres a three-pronged pledge:1) To publish quality content that interests and informs not only Morehouse students or the AUC but also the surrounding West End community and the nation as a whole.2) To acclimate the most diligent and hardworking AUC students to the rigors of journalism and media while fully involving all MTSMG team members in the day-to-day operations of the organization.3) To solicit advertisements from a diverse array of responsible businesses that fully reflect the interest of The Maroon Tiger readership. The Maroon Tiger Media Group especially promotes continued growth of local West End businesses through special consideration in publications.Devotion to this pledge and its goals of advocacy, responsibility and excellence has generated recognition for Maroon Tiger Media Group including, according to its website, Best Campus Community Service Features, Best Campus Community Service Editorial sections and second place in the Best Layout and Design and General Excellence categories in the 2014 Georgia College Press Association s Better Newspaper Contest. In total students working for Maroon Tiger Student Media Group have amassed 100-plus awards nationally, state-wide and regionally.The Baylor Lariat reported last week that college tour guides removed copies of the Feb. 8 paper from at least two locations on campus. The front page contained a story with the headline Fifth alleged rape reported. As the Lariat included in its story, the removals occurred on a day when Baylor expected 2,000 prospective students to visit campus.Campus tour guides removed the Feb. 8 edition of the Lariat from Penland Crossroads and Foster Campus for business due to front page headlines. Shae Koharski | Multimedia JournalistJust last week approximately 500 copies of The Daily Gamecock went missing from buildings around campus, according to its report. The school spokesman hypothesized that student government election coverage might have prompted the theft. Hannah Dear / The Daily GamecockJust a reminder, it is a crime to steal even free newspapers (though the Gamecock does point out that the first copy is free and each additional is $1). As the editor of the Gamecock said to the thieves by taking away the people s right to information and advertisements which local businesses paid for, it isn t us who you hurt. It s the community and the very idea of free press and free speech. If you don t like what s in the paper, write a letter to the editor, tweet about it, heck, visit the offices and complain. But don t steal a bunch of copies. It s just not smart. Last week long-time adviser and journalism professor Judy Gibbs Robinson posted on Facebook that she is no longer with the University of Oklahoma after her job became increasingly intolerable after she requested equal pay with a male colleague for the same work and ended up filing and losing a grievance. She said she shared her story because I want other women to know the huge cost of seeking workplace equity. She also said [none] of this is a reflection on the students I taught or advised, who did and continue to do amazing journalism and brought me so much joy all these years. As you can imagine, those students find themselves in an awkward spot. The same day the post went live, the editorial board of OU Daily posted an editorial explaining why they wouldn t be reporting on the situation. In addition to the students being personally connected to Judy, the editorial also said the situation involves several years worth of complicated interpersonal and professional context that goes far beyond any of our understanding. Some of us have firsthand personal knowledge of what went on in those years, but on a professional and official level, we currently have only a piece of a much larger picture. Because of the confidentiality involved in personnel decisions, the editorial said all the sources are not at full liberty to share all of the details with us. As you can imagine, folks asked some questions (mostly via Twitter) about why the students weren t pursuing the story when they said in the editorial we would normally pursue stories about alleged pay inequity on the basis of gender. Emma Keith, editor in chief, was willing to answer some of those questions. She said the staff is willing to tackle the wage disparity issue in a larger context. [W]e re definitely open to reporting on wage disparities elsewhere, and have done so in the past, Emma said. We ve received a lot of suggestions that we use this situation as a jumping off point into a larger, institutional story, which is likely our path forward. She also said that while they feel free to report on their male adviser s role in the situation, unfortunately, this situation is not as straightforward as it was presented in Judy s post. Judy worked for student media, but also for the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. There was considerable personal/departmental conflict that played into her experiences and those of our male adviser, Emma said. [A]nd the situation was a complicated blend of Judy s issues within our journalism college and our student media department. In addition to the complicated overlap, Emma said the staff didn t feel they could get the complete story in this situation. We understand that there are a lot of personal factors that our student media director, male adviser, and the college are not going to elaborate on, she said. [B]ut without [them] the story is not really complete. She said she is aware of other college media outlets who have reported on their advisers or decisions that directly impact them, but that the staff determined that this particular story might not be as newsworthy as the Facebook post alleges. [R]eporting on ourselves is something we take on a case by case basis, Emma said. She further said that after evaluating the story as presented in Judy s post, the story we heard from student media (but could not officially report because the department technically cannot speak on its own behalf), and the personal conflicts we knew about within the department that they decided not to pursue the story. We decided that this particular story was not as newsworthy as Judy had presented it to be, based on all the other factors that played into it that were left out of her public post, Emma said. She said she wants people to know that the staff carefully considered the situation. In sum, we want people to know that we didn t make the decision not to cover this out of laziness or a choice to look away from a legitimate issue, but out of careful consideration of several years worth of personal and professional context that played into Judy s situation. The Triangle s Week of Begging apparently worked. Last month the student newspaper at Drexel University in Philadelphia announced they wouldn t be printing the next issue, or maybe ever again, due to a lack of funding. The staff started a fundraising campaign and solicited feedback from readers. Sounds like both have worked. The newest editorial said [B]ecause of a generous offer from the Office of Institutional Advancement this week to purchase the ad space needed to print, we re back on the stands. Photo by Ben Ahrens for The TriangleBut as the headline indicates, it s not business as usual. In addition to finding a more sustainable revenue model, the staff intends to cover sports more in-depth, to preview arts and entertainment events, focus on more hard-hitting news by establishing a beat system and attempting to balance the opinion pages more. The editorial said [f]or the first time in our recent history, we re committed to using our readers wishes as our primary driver for moving forward. Welcome back, The Triangle. We look forward to seeing you achieve your goals. We all need help finding story ideas. Sure, news comes our way, but what about digging deeper than press releases and event coverage? This list is meant to spark your creativity and share ideas produced by other student media.Have an idea for the list? Email or @ us ASAP.New Ideas Added at the TopUpdated February 26, 2019Newsletters: This is more a distribution idea than a coverage one. Subscription news services are growing in popularity, as evidenced by the success of The Skimm. This service sends the news straight to your inbox in easy to digest, short round ups with plenty of links to more in-depth reporting. College Media outlets are in the game, too. Allowing readers to subscribe to a newsletter is a great way to make sure the news gets to them. Not everyone can pick up a print edition, or will remember to check out a weekly podcast, but a daily or weekly reminder can grow your traffic numbers and better inform your community, like the Rocky Mountain Collegian does with The Stump.Updated February 12, 2019Check out your yearbooks: Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is under fire because of a racist photo on his profile page in the 1984 yearbook for Eastern Virginia Medical School. This has caused plenty of consternation and hand wringing, but as college media outlets are pointing out, this wasn t some anomaly. The Auburn Plainsman dug through old editions of Glomerata and found many racist images. And The Commonwealth Times at Virginia Commonwealth University found similar content in old yearbooks, and so did The Daily Tar Heel at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recognizing the past doesn t justify it, but can allow for renewed discussion and reflection. Updated February 5, 2019Untold Stories: Hopefully you are already telling the stories of your students and your faculty. But what about staff members? Flyer News at the University of Dayton did a profile on the groundskeepers and the results of their hard work. Think beyond the typical person to profile. Some custodial workers have been on campus longer than presidents and administrators. Don t just focus on the shining stars.  Read MoreThe Southern Digest, the student newspaper of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the sentinel voice of enlightened student body, according to its website. The Southern Digest is produced for the students, faculty, staff and the Southern University community by students of the Southern University system, primarily the Baton Rouge campus, its website states. Student media at Southern University also produces the Ego Magazine and Jaguar Yearbook. In 2013, the Southern Digest received first place, second place and honorable mention honors given in the annual Better Student Newspaper Competition at the 133rd Annual Louisiana Press Association Convention in Baton Rouge, according to the Southern University and Agricultural Mechanical College website. The students competed against against collegiate student newspapers across the state of Louisiana. The Southern Digest earned numerous national awards in that same year. The honors the students have earned during this year s award season have been well-earned and truly humbling, publications assistant Fredrick Batiste said at the time. The LPA awards are not just icing on the cake, but rather reaffirmation of the hard work and sacrifices our student staff has made covering the Southern University community throughout the year. The students competed against 74 publications submitting 3,561 entries. After a five-year break, Southern Digest recently relaunched its News Minute newscast available on YouTube and at http://www.southerndigest.com Stories in the Feb. 14, 2019, episode included information on a new dean of students, Freshmore week a week held each year for student government to show their appreciation for freshman and sophomore students as well as athletics updates. The Feb. 6, 2019 episode included a 50-year celebration of the university s gospel choir and the nursing program s efforts to donate water during a local clean water crisis. Top stories on studentdigest.com for Feb. 21 included a feature on the university quiz bowl s 2nd place at a national qualifying tournament that earned the team a place in the national competition. A news story covered delayed progress on a news alumni center and residential housing project. In 2013 student media at Southern University faced a funding challenge when the Student Government Association successfully passed a referendum to take 40 percent of student media s surplus funds. Editor-in-chief at the time Evan Taylor told the Student Press Law Center that student media officials were given hardly any time to protest the measure. The money was to be redirected to student scholarships, facility upgrades, campus beautification, student transit enhancements and other service initiatives, according to an SPLC article. Students weren t aware at the time that the fund existed and began making plans to use the $1.5 million surplus to buy new equipment and office upgrades. The surplus accumulated from student fee dollars that were either unspent or earmarked for assistant director and director salaries that weren t paid when those positions weren t filled and due to unspent money. The staff also wanted to use the surplus to make up for a decline in funding due to lower enrollment. The cost of producing the paper has gone up, Taylor told the SPLC at the time, and the surplus fund would help fill in the gap.Separate profile Slug: Spartan Echo is voice of Spartan Community Teaser: Award-winning Echo provides voice and communication experienceThe Spartan Echo has provided a voice for the student body of Norfolk University since 1952. The Spartan Echo exists to serve the university s communication needs and to provide maximum opportunity for educational communication experience in fulfillment of the educational mission of the institution and the full spirit of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, according to its website. The newspaper, a recognized student organization, is housed in student activities but has a faculty adviser in the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism who completes his or her duties according to the standards of College Media Association, Inc. (CMA), the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The adviser serves as a mentor or coach but does not exert editorial control. The Echo is further governed by a publications board. The top story on the Echo s website for Feb. 21, 2019, is a feature on a TV judge visiting campus. Paid editors are chosen by the Student Publications Board. The newspaper relies on a wide variety of volunteer staff members from deputy editors to reporters, content producers, videographers and graphic designers, according to its website. Any student is allowed to apply for a position. Staff performance expectations follow the guidelines of the College Media Association, a national student media organizations for students and advisers. All students involved with the Echo are supposed to follow the standards of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Norfolk State University Student Handbook. Norfolk State University was founded in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, to give the youth of the region a place where they could express their hopes and aspirations, according to the University s website. Over the summer Lindenwood University canceled funding for Lindenwood Legacy, the student-run, award-winning magazine.But now it has agreed to fund the new magazine Link. The school had cited financial concerns and claimed they needed to mirror the multi-platform of professional media, and therefore the print edition needed to be cut. The staff, at the time, feared the move was more about censorship. Nothing new has been released to explain why a print magazine now makes sense six months later, but a print edition is back, so that s progress. I am extremely pleased to re-launch the magazine, Madeline Raineri, News Editor and Community Relations Manager for Lindenlink/Link Magazine, said. Our persistence with getting the administration to reconsider got us the magazine back, and I am thankful we fought! Madeline said the name was changed as part of a compromise. I think a name change/rebranding was coming anyway, she said. I actually came up with the idea of Link because it s like Lindenlink, our online publication, and gives us some unity between the two, which I don t believe we had as much with the Legacy. She said she hopes there will be opportunities for collaboration among media students. We have yet to discuss any collaborations yet, in terms of outside sources, she said. [B]ut we are excited to collaborate with media students with different skill sets and backgrounds to create content for print and web! The only independent student newspaper at Boston University was unable to publish its publication Feb. 7 due to a lack of advertising to pay for it. On Feb. 11 the newspaper announced on its website that a print product would only appear if advertising existed to cover the costs. The staff will let readers know on Thursdays via social media whether the paper will print that week or not. We are disappointed that we are not able to print every week. Along with many newspapers around the country, we have had to learn how to adapt to the changing news environment, says Lexi Peery, chair of the Back Bay Publishing, Co., Inc., in the article Although we are not able to print every week, we are still publishing digital content daily on our website. We are, and will always be, dedicated to informing the BU community. Back Bay Publishing, Co., Inc., is a group of 13 former Free Press editors, and current BU students, who serve as a board of directors for the publication. The publishing company handles business and operations efforts at the paper, Public Relations Chair Anna Whitelaw said. Whitelaw is a current senior at BU. The board picks the editorial board positions, and gives those staff members full editorial control. The newspaper has existed at Boston University since 1970 and has published weekly print edition for the last five years, according to its website. The newspaper publishes Monday through Friday online, with the print product appearing on Thursday. The staff apologized to print readers in the Feb. 11 story and encouraged them to continue reading the online content. Whitelaw said the response to the change has been overwhelmingly positive. The campus and community have been extremely supportive following our announcement, Whitelaw said. I honestly wasn t expecting such a huge response, but readers, alumni, and professional journalists have been extremely outspoken and supportive on social media. It s been really encouraging to see how invested people are in the paper. Whitelaw said the staff was sad to hear the news of the potential reduction in print frequency, but she said they understood it was necessary to keep the newspaper running. The volunteer staff of 140 is divided between eight sections. There is no set advertising staff but the business board helps with those efforts, Whitelaw said. The reduction in printing does not mean a reduction in quality of content. Whitelaw said the staff has worked hard in recent years to increase The Daily Free Press multimedia and online content and has added Snapchat publisher editions, two weekly podcasts and is getting ready to host its second annual networking conference. We ve got an incredible staff of talented and passionate journalists, and we re no less dedicated to informing the BU community, Whitelaw said. News outlets throughout history have acted as a system of checks and balances to governments. The students at the Dixie Sun News are trying to live out that responsibility but have had doors literally slammed in their faces in the process. On Jan. 19, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that students at Dixie State University hired First Amendment attorney Jeff Hunt, who asked Utah Assistant Attorney General David Jones to uphold state meetings law regarding access to faculty senate and student government meetings. This is a public university; it s supported by public tax dollars, Hunt told the Salt Lake Tribune. The idea that they could conduct their business behind closed doors is totally contrary to the letter and spirit of the Open Meetings Act. A Dixie Sun News reporter was removed from a faculty senate meeting on Sept. 20, 2018. They re not a decision-making body on campus, Dixie spokeswoman Jyl Hall said in the Tribune article. They are talking about sensitive faculty issues. The Tribune reported that Ric Cantrell, spokesman for the Utah attorney general s office, said the Open and Public Meetings Act applies to a university s board of trustees, but he questioned whether subsidiary bodies are required to open meetings. We anticipate that we will give an opinion to our client [Dixie State University] in the next month, Cantrell told the Tribune. We re not answering the question of whether Dixie State should open meetings or whether it s smart to open meetings. We re just answering the question: Do the legal provisions of the Open Meetings Act apply to this particular internal group? According to the Tribune story, bylaws of the university s faculty senate meetings limit access to invited guests. Sun News editor-in-chief Ryann Heinlen said the Sun News started attending faculty senate meetings during the 2018-2019 academic year in order to better understand and highlight the good that faculty are doing on campus. On Oct. 16, 2018, the staff wrote an editorial about their ongoing challenges to report the news of Dixie State University, an 8,993-student campus in St. George, Utah. As both students and journalists, we have protections that are meant to help make our jobs easier, but these freedoms are consistently ignored or denied, and we often find ourselves without sources or sometimes a story, the staff wrote in the editorial. Open access to documents requested under Utah s Government Records Access and Management Act has been a hurdle we have had to face for two and a half years, Heinlen said. Students were told they needed special permission to access open events, endured sources trivializing stories the Dixie Sun News thinks the public needs as not being newsworthy, and wrapped up interviews only to be told crucial information is off the record, the Sun News reported in its editorial. Following the publication of the October 16 editorial, Heinlen said the staff met with many school officials to attempt to remedy the situation, but overall the consensus is split. The University Marketing and Communication Department has worked to provide aid wherever it can, but that does not mean its sole purpose is to protect the rights of student journalists, she said. The Sun News reported Jan. 28 that a vote to consider the public nature of its meetings was delayed by the Dixie State Faculty Senate until the university receives an opinion from the attorney general s office. Michelle McDermott, faculty senate president and associate professor of nursing, says that the faculty senate is not a public body and is not applicable to the open meetings law.The students have reached out to or were contacted by the Student Press Law Center, College Media Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. Overall, the consensus from some faculty and staff is that the media are not to be trusted, and it aligns perfectly with national opinion, Heinlen said. As students, we are learning how to be reporters and editors in a time where being a journalist is almost taboo. We re portrayed in movies as slimy and untrustworthy, and by our politicians as fake news.' She said feeling this push back from the very people who champion active learning, active life was disheartening at first, but no one goes into this field for fame or approval ratings. Our staff has used the conflict we have faced in this and previous semesters to be become better journalists, Heinlen said. What a couple of weeks in college media. Yearbooks are coming back to haunt politicians and college media is causing a stir with a string of opinion pieces drawing professional media s attention, specifically conservative professional media. The Dickinsonian at Dickson College in Pennsylvania ran an opinion piece entitled Should White Boys Be Allowed to Talk? The piece, by a guest writer, says American society tells men, but especially white men, that their opinions have merit and that their voice is valuable, but after four years of listening to white boys in college, I am not so convinced. She then goes on to say So, should white boys still be allowed to share their opinions ? Should we be forced to listen? In honor of Black History Month, I m gonna go with a hell no. Go find someone whose perspective has been buried or ignored and listen to them, raise up their voice. The tongue-in-cheek piece has drawn 368 comments as of Feb. 12, and most of them condemn the piece and writer as racist. But commentator Michael S. seems to be willing to look deeper. And to anyone who genuinely believes that this article is about EVERY white boy, or who believes that there was genuine advocacy for racially-based revocation of the first amendment, I d suggest you read the piece once more, they said. Breitbart has picked up the story, and provided this response from The Dickinsonian staff. The editorial page is a place for students to express their personal views on issues of concern to them. Our editorial policy is to ensure that pieces are not based on factually incorrect information, do not aim to incite violence, and are relevant to the Dickinson community. This piece reflects the author s personal experience. The Dickinsonian neither agrees nor disagrees with it, or with any of our editorial columnists. But this isn t an anomaly. Student Life at Washington University in St. Louis ran a piece called It s OK that conservatives don t feel welcome. The staff writer, while commenting on the president s State of the Union address said [c]onservative ideas do not deserve equal consideration to that afforded liberal and left ideas, because conservative ideas are not equal to liberal and left ideas. He goes on to say that conservative groups have the right to exist and isn t asking for their extermination or anything. But the Daily Wire picked up this story. The Student Life site shows that this story garnered 98 mostly negative comments. Even after Fox News Insider reported on it. Update: The author has published a clarification of his original column, though he doesn t back down as some outlets have reported. The Ivy League has gotten into the fray, too. A piece entitled Evil is banal tells white boys that the author is watching them. She makes the argument that after the Kavanaugh hearings it s important to take notes on her classmates, especially since many Yale students go onto leadership positions. She says But I can t [kick myself when it s too late] I can t let things slip by. I m watching you, white boy. And this time, I m taking the screenshot. After Fox News picked it up, the piece has at least 824 comments. No one at any of the mentioned college media outlets responded to requests for comments. Since 1919, The Famaun has been the voice of Florida A M University, which was listed as the top historically black college or university for 2015 by U.S. News World Report. In 2014 the magazine listed Florida A M as one of the top national universities. According to its website, FAMU advocates diversity in thought, perspective, and culture. The thefamaunonline, states the newspaper will cover all sides of an issue. It will promote intelligent examination of issues, the presentation of factual information and comment, each in its own place in the publication. Top stories on thefamuanonline, on Feb. 6, 2019, take a look at Roe v. Wade 46 years later, feature a mecca gallery for art lovers, report on a senate committee moving forward with a smoking ban, list results of the annual tobacco use report and profiles Malcolm X. In January, 2013, The Student Press Law Center reported Editor-in-Chief Karl Etters was not rehired after he and the editorial staff were forced to reapply for their positions. That followed the removal of the newspaper s advisor and suspension of its publishing by Journalism school Dean Ann Kimbrough. It resumed publishing later that month. A new editor was installed and staff members were informed they would have to take training sessions prior to reapplying for their positions. Deposed editor Etters said at the time: To me it seems like this was all a ruse to put somebody else as editor. That s how it feels. A horse is a horse no matter which way you look at it. The newspaper faced a libel suit in December 2011 following reporting of the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion. Kimbrough alleged at the time that the reporter was not attending FAMU and that the reporter didn t make reasonable attempts to verify the information before publishing it. At the time, according to the SPLC, the paper was also under financial stress. In 2014, it discontinued its print publication for a time. Editor and Publisher reported in February 7, 2014, that The Famuan was one of the first student media outlets to go digital-only. College Media Matters also reported on February 7, 2014, the newspaper s new online-only product as a cost-savings measure. At the time, Kimbrough told the Talahassee Democrat: We have been trying to find ways to be profitable and reduce the budget and teach students how the industry operates. Most students rely on their smartphones and other digital devices to consume news. Famuan Editor-in-Chief Reggie Mizell, wrote in a column dated Sept. 3, 2015, that University President Ulmira Mangum was going to start the official newspaper of Florida A M. It won t be the FAMUAN. It ll be a real newspaper, like the Wall Street Journal, Mizell quoted Mangum as saying.At the time the newspaper was operating on a budget of $10,000, barely enough to print one issue a semester, Mizell wrote. He questioned why an official newspaper like the Wall Street Journal was needed when The Famuan had been reporting the news at Florida A M for 50 years. He said the newspaper was mostly successful: attracting readers, winning awards and providing training for students. After facing censorship and dealing with the awareness that there were issues on campus that students wanted to discuss, a group of seniors at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, created their own news site The Lynchburg Torch to bring independent journalism to campus. At Liberty the media for students is very controlled by the university a lot of the time, Lynchburg Torch Editor-in-Chief Jack Panyard said. There have been issues with that. We have a lot of journalists here, a lot of writers. There s no outlet for students to speak out directly without the university meddling with it somehow. Panyard said stories he wrote for the mainstream media outlet at Liberty, The Champion, were edited beyond recognition and he asked that his byline be removed. In August 2018 Inside Higher Ed reported that the editor-in-chief and a news editor of The Champion were fired by university officials as part of a restructuring of the newspaper. The two staff members were replaced by a managing editor and assistant content editor with similar duties to those who d been removed. Following the removal of those two editors other students resigned from the newspaper. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell was criticized in 2016 for not allowing The Champion to publish a column criticizing Donald Trump. At the time, Falwell said the column was redundant as the newspaper had just written a piece about Trump. Panyard said the Torch staff gives students the opportunity to write and read about issues university administration would not want discussed. The staff has made it a focus to reach out to the greater Lynchburg community, and recently ran stories about homelessness in the area and the national opioid epidemic. If students are passionate about something and feel something needs to be talked about they can come to the Torch and have some kind of voice there, Panyard said. In creating the Torch, Panyard and fellow students he knew at The Champion used their campus contacts to find students with the same passion for independent journalism. They use a similar network of contacts, emails and social media to determine what students want to read about and what types of content they want to produce themselves. Sarah Jackson has served as opinion editor since the Torch began. She said the news site gives students the opportunity to read about and discuss a wider variety of issues. We really felt the need to address those issues that other people weren t talking about, she said. There are always more stories out there. There s also more things that students need to be aware of. We try our best to fill in that gap. Both Panyard and Jackson said students have been supportive and enthusiastic about the news source. They ve heard positive comments from the community at large by people who are grateful for the additional connection to campus. A lot of people are really happy that we re doing what we re doing, Jackson said. Students who work at the Torch are currently unpaid. The editors rely on a mix of regular writers and freelance contributors who write news and opinion pieces. Working at The Champion gave them the experience to know how to put together a news staff. They currently meet at each other s homes or in local coffee shops to manage the news site. Jackson said working online makes a physical newsroom less of a necessity. Working on the Torch has opened her eyes to what goes into creating journalism. Being a part of the Torch and constantly looking for stories and looking for news has just opened my eyes to how many stories are out there and how many things are going on that people need to know about, Jackson said. It s increased my love of journalism as a whole. Panyard said so far the Torch staff hasn t received much pushback from the administration. He said he knows how to deal with the people who would have concerns about the content the staff produces and he doesn t feel intimidated by them. Actions of the president and the inflammatory nature of religious and political discussions get blown up in social media, he said. The school itself is really solid, Panyard said. There are a lot of great classes, there s a group of really great professors here. Some of the decisions the administration has made is what s upsetting people. The core staff currently posts three times per week. They posted five times per week in the fall but have had some staff reductions due to graduation. They are currently seeking new members, and are looking for students who are ambitious and passionate to move the Torch forward into the future. Ultimately this thing is going to live off student interest and interaction, Panyard said. Ultimately if students don t see a need for it it will peter out. I think there s a student passion for real news people care about this kind of thing. As long as that keeps going we re going to be able to find people to bring on to this project.

TAGS:College Media Matters 

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