I overheard some people talking about the Campus Press yesterday.
My ears immediately perked up, and I tried to listen. I’m not normally an
eavesdropper, but living in the surreal world of the Campus Press Newsroom
in the Journalism school, it is difficult to gauge the reaction of our
audience to the content we are producing.
So there I was, doing some work in the UMC, and two people nearby begin to
talk about the Campus Press.
“I’ve heard they’re in big trouble.”
“Why?”
“I guess they were doing such a bad job, that the administration had to take
away their printed newspapers.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, and now they are entirely on the Internet, and they can’t even handle
that!’
“Jeez.”
Needless to say, I was moderately distraught by this exchange. People
actually thinking these things about the Campus Press is, well, ridiculous.
Now I’m not 100 percent sure why we don’t have a print edition anymore, but
I know it’s not because we were doing a bad job. Campus Press alumni, who
move on to amazing internships and jobs at major news outlets around the
country, are a testament to the success of the Campus Press. As for not
being able to handle the online version of the Campus Press, well, that too
is false. Since the Campus Press went online last March, the daily hits have
gone up more than 200 percent. The Campus Press online runs local and
national ads, and updates daily. The Campus Press has been featured in
virtually all local news media outlets – from Westword to the Daily Camera –
and the Campus Press’ plans for the future are exciting and innovative.
I hate to have to write something like this, but earlier in the semester,
the Campus Press editors were accused of being “too sensitive” about their
“baby,” the Campus Press. If being passionate about something you believe in
as an important part of the community is being “too sensitive,” then I’m
clearly guilty. Maybe that’s why I was upset when I heard these people in
the UMC talking about the Campus Press.
This is the first editorial I’ve written for the Campus Press, as I’ve never
felt moved enough to have the need to write my opinion. If there is anything
I may hope for, it is that the reader of this editorial gives the Campus
Press a chance. Tell your friends about the Campus Press, and let them give
it a chance. The editorial staff of the Campus Press throws around the terms
“fresh” and “edgy”, but honestly, the Campus Press is. When Winter Break is
over, the lights have come off the trees, and the holiday season is but a
memory, the Campus Press will return with an all-new editorial staff, a new
faculty advisor, and fresh and edgy new ideas. All I ask is give the Campus
Press a chance, and if you end up not liking it and want to talk about it,
just be careful of who is listening to you.
