New Year’s Resolutions Every College Newspaper Should Make

Every newspaper can fall into a pattern of static publishing and not growing with the times. The faltering economy and pessimistic job opportunities in journalism can level college journalists feeling discouraged and downtrodden. Don’t let it. Start the year 2009 with a new outlook on your college newspaper’s potential and all that you are capable of in the coming year.

1. Upgrade your equipment. Nothing will help motivate your reporters and editors like new video, audio equipment or cameras. Use any extra funds to buy even one new item. Give out awards to those who use it most effectively or creatively.

2. Don’t be afraid to dig deep. A blog started in spring 2008, called The Center for Campus Investigations, offers an in-depth plan for how to bring investigative journalism to your college newspaper. It’s a realistic and engaging plan that you should definitely not ignore. Nothing else you do can bring as much respect to your publication as digging deep into some of your school’s most controversial issues.

3. Promise to listen to your readers. A good editor is just a presumptuous reader. It’s your paper. What do you want to read? What do you want to know? Promise yourself that you will listen to the readers. Get a table in your student center or a place with a lot of traffic and offer people the opportunity to complete reader surveys in exchange for candy or baked goods. When the results come in on what the readers want, LISTEN TO THEM!

4. Don’t just fill space. Too often college newspapers just fill the space needed to put out a paper without stopping to think about whether a story really needs to be covered or whether it meets the standards your paper wants to uphold. Don’t fall into this rut. If an article isn’t good, don’t be afraid to cut it out.

5. Get away from College Publisher. We all know there is nothing better than independence and there is just no way you can with College Publisher. Go to Wordpress, Drupal, anything! You’ll be in charge of all your own ads (not to mention the layout and look of the Web site). Confused on how to make the transition work? Get in touch with my friends over at CoPress and have them explain all they can do to help you move to Wordpress.

6. …and in the process go Web First. Recently CoPress’s Greg Linch wrote a great blog post on how his college newspaper The Miami Hurricane at the University of Miami was able to transform their newspaper’s work flow to make it easier for them to go Web first. Take a page from their book and try to upgrade your college newspaper’s way of working to meet today’s needs.

7. Maintain an effective relationship with your school’s administration. Try giving the Dean of Students or other influential person on campus a column in your paper. Is there a complex problem occurring on campus? Hold an editorial meeting with key administrators of the project and key players at the paper so that you can ensure that it gets covered properly. You’d be surprised how willing administrators will be on thoroughly explaining some issues that are likely to get covered incorrectly if not dealt with properly.

8. Get out of your ivory tower. Let people know and see what you’re doing. You’re the college newspaper, nothing more and certainly nothing less. If you’re an editor, don’t be afraid to appear on your college’s television station or radio station. Hold an open house where readers can get a tour of the offices and see how you operate. Don’t be afraid to respond to comments on your Web site when readers pose a question on how something was reported!

9. Remember that people like to see their names/faces in print. Want to get readership up? Remember that readers like to see their names in print just as much as reporters do. Have plenty of opportunities to feature students who’s accomplishments might be overlooked. Remember no life (or student) is without a story.

10. Don’t forget to apply for contests. This seems like a no-brainer but I can’t tell you how many college newspapers get in the rut of putting out a paper on a regular basis that they forget they are eligible for some pretty substantial awards and recognitions. Try those given by ACP, National Scholastic Press Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists to name a few.