Student Newspapers Online
Eileen Williamson
newspaper on the internet.
I have quite a bit of "advice" from some web sites that concern a lot of
regular newspapers.
That advice included
-Adding Sound Bytes
-Focusing on Local News for Local papers
-Advice on Ad location and preparing a style guide for
ad size and placemnt
-Offering material and information unique to the online enviroment
What are situations unique to student media that you encountered when placing
your student paper online? (positive or negative)
Or, did you contemplate an online paper and decide against it? If so, why?
What basic questions did you have to answer in deciding to go online?
What has been your biggest problem with an online paper?
What are some obstacles or surprising successes you have seen as a result of
putting a student newspaper online?
I found some wonderful advice at SPLC.com concerning legal aspects and .edu
issues.
So you have other information, I would be happy to hear from you.
One last question for those of you with weekly printed papers and you are
online?
Do you update the online version daily or weekly?
If weekly, have you considered daily?
Thanks for all the help.
Eileen Williamson
Wright State University
David Proviano
Putting your student newspaper online has its ups and downs. The biggest
issues are staffing, cost and the response of your campus community.
Although building a webpage may be getting easier everyday, finding someone
to maintain an everchanging website could be a problem. Even if you do find
someone, if they aren't always ontop of things the site or publication
suffers. The few readers you aquire in the beginning will quickly disapear
in search of something better.
The ideas you listed sound great. The way you are funded will be based on
those ideas and how they work out. Although Federal and state laws do
protect you with the same rights as any other newspaper, you can expect to
lose school funding fast.
Sure you will have the support of the SPLC and publishers everywhere, but
expect a fight. It shouldn't worry you much, as a website costs much less
than creating, publishing, printing and distributing an actual hard copy.
The problem is, if you already have a publication on campus, many of the
people there (instructors, employees and administrators) aren't going to
like the idea. It's bad enough if they have a non-flattering piece written
about them in a campus publication for lets say three to six thousand. How
do you think they would react once you multiply your circulation by a
billion. The world will now see this.
The benifit is giving everyone access to you publication. Current studentsm,
faculty and staff, as well as alumni and future students will always have
immediate access to news and views about the campus.
The benifit of reaching future students could also benifit your operating
income. You could solicit advertising from admissions, clubs, student
governments and of course local employers. Everyone know starving students
are always looking for jobs.
Also, as you said, this is a student publication. Since you are granted the
same rights as other publications, you also must follow the same guidelines.
You will have to work harder to edit your works by students to ensure no
libel gets into the site.
The cost of additional editors may seem a waste of money at first, but it is
nothing compared to legal costs and fines if you lose against a libel suit.
As far as beginning a daily publication goes, test the waters first. Make
sure students have the time for a weekly first, then decide.
David Proviano
Littleton, Colo.
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