In recent years, the fallouts from student press April Fools’ editions have ratcheted up– or maybe it just seems that way due to social media. Regardless, I strongly believe in the usefulness and power of these special issues. When done right, they can start much-needed conversations, trigger university-wide belly-laughs, and memorably point out all manner of campus lunacies and hypocrisies. Students should of course be warned about the dangers and educated about the legal and ethical implications. But otherwise I do believe student media staffers should be let loose, within reason, once a year to make Fools’ themselves– for their own and others’ enjoyment.
Archive for the ‘Student Newspaper’ Category
Amid College Newspaper Carnage, Why I’m Still in Favor of April Fools’ Editions
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper, Teachable Moment on April 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
At University of Portland, ‘Campus Ministry Forces Student Media Out’
Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 16, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The student newspaper and yearbook staffs at the University of Portland are being evicted from their offices in the school’s student center to make room for professional staff overseeing a campus religious group. Portland administrators apparently decided upon the shift without consulting students serving on either publication.
Drunkorexia: Students Starving All Day to Drink at Night
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Story Ideas, Student Newspaper on April 13, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Drunkorexia. Over the past academic year, the five-syllable word has become the most publicized new disorder impacting college students. A growing number of students, researchers, and health professionals consider it a dangerous phenomenon. Others dismiss it as a media-driven faux-trend. And still others contend it is nothing more than a fresh label stamped onto an activity that students have been carrying out for years.
Wisconsin’s Daily Cardinal Turns 120; Special Issue Honors Alums Such as Anthony Shadid (@dailycardinal)
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin-Madison celebrated its 120th birthday today with a resplendent special issue reflecting on its past and predicting its future. As the paper confirms, “Since the 1890s, The Daily Cardinal has been a lens through which Wisconsin students have seen their world. . . . For the past 120 years, students have produced The Daily Cardinal through wars, protests and tragedies.”
Oregon Daily Emerald Accused of Racial Stereotyping in Basketball Brawl Coverage
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Black Student Union at the University of Oregon is accusing The Oregon Daily Emerald of racial stereotyping in its coverage of a fight last month between opposing players facing off in an intramural basketball playoff game. The group is also charging the school’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) with racial profiling in its initial handling of the incident.
Student Petition Pushes for Fired Daily Texan Cartoonist to be Rehired
Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 5, 2012 | 2 Comments »
An active petition on Change.org with more than 170 signatures is demanding The Daily Texan reinstate embattled former cartoonist Stephanie Eisner. The University of Texas sophomore was fired late last month after an editorial illustration she created addressing the Trayvon Martin case earned immense criticism from pockets of readers and a bevy of national media attention.
Santa Monica College Newspaper in National Spotlight for Protest, Pepper Spray Coverage (@The_Corsair)
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Corsair, the student newspaper at Santa Monica College, is in the national spotlight for its comprehensive continuing coverage of student tuition protests that resulted in a high-profile pepper-spray incident Tuesday night. The protests are an offshoot of growing student anger over the school’s tiered tuition plan. The plan charges more money per credit for enrollment in more popular classes, including some that students need to complete various major and general academic requirements.
Student Press Trend: Editor Resignations; Is This a Good Thing?
Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media, Student Newspaper on April 4, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Over the past two months, three top editors have resigned from the student news outlets they helped run following high-profile screw-ups. In late January, Devon Edwards resigned as managing editor of Onward State at Penn State University after sending out the mistaken tweet read and believed ’round the web about the death of Joe Paterno. Late last month, Adam B. Sullivan suddenly quit his post as editor-in-chief of The Daily Iowan following a front-page debacle in which photos of hospitalized meth burn victims were aligned with a story on criminal meth addicts. And most recently, earlier this week Chelsea Diana was forced to resign as editor-in-chief of The Daily Free Press at Boston University following the publication of a callous April Fools’ issue featuring drugs, sexual assault, and Disney characters.
Daily Tar Heel Editor at UNC Defends Controversial Trayvon Martin Cartoon
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper on April 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Daily Tar Heel is facing criticism from some student and alumni readers at the University of North Carolina for publishing a nationally-syndicated cartoon about the Trayvon Martin saga. As The Huffington Post confirms, late last week, the paper published an editorial illustration showing “police responding to the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Daily Tar Heel Editor Selection Process at UNC Used to Be Insane
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper on March 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
It reads like a mix between “Hunger Games” and “Survivor.” Apparently, in the past, students vying for the position of Daily Tar Heel editor-in-chief at the University of North Carolina had to run in a CAMPUS-WIDE election similar to a student government vote. A new article in the DTH commemorating the 20-year-mark since this process ended outlines a bevy of problems with this “John Carter”-sized #epicfail. The paper’s general manager says simply about his memories of that time: “It decimated the staff.” The words nightmarish and popularity contest also appears in the piece.
Dartmouth Hazing Scandal: From Student Newspaper Column to Rolling Stone
Posted in Journalism, Story Ideas, Student Newspaper on March 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Dartmouth University hazing scandal first brought to light earlier this semester in the school’s student newspaper is featured prominently in the current edition of Rolling Stone. “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses” is a “meditation on class, violence, and power in Dartmouth’s overheated campus culture.” The piece premiered online yesterday to oodles of interwebs chatter.
Most Popular Tennessee Daily Beacon Story: ‘Masturbation, Steak Theft Plague UT’
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Student Newspaper on March 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A whopper of a headline leapt out at me during a web scan of The Daily Beacon website yesterday afternoon. The header tops an article containing crime report highlights from a decade of campus life at the University of Tennessee. The oddity: It first ran in 2004, but eight years later remains the most popular story on the Beacon site. The headline: “Masturbation, Steak Theft Plague UT.”
Time to Wake Up: Independent Student Newspapers are Struggling Financially
Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, Student Newspaper on March 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Student newspapers are struggling financially. The decade-long plights of the professional press have at last weaved their way into the land of collegemediatopia. If not quite a time of reckoning for campus papers, we have definitely entered a prolonged period of dramatic change– cutbacks, weary sighs, and hopefully some spirited reinventions. That is the gist of what I told Connecticut Post reporter Linda Lambeck late last week when contacted for a quote.
Oregon Journalism Students Having Trouble Checking Out Multimedia Equipment They Need (@DailyEmerald)
Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Education, New Media, Student Newspaper, tagged College, Education, Media, Technology on March 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Students in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon are increasingly having trouble checking out reporting 2.0 tools like video cameras and digital recorders from the school stockpile, a report late last week in The Oregon Daily Emerald revealed. Apparently, a new set of classes is requiring their use, suddenly making demand dramatically outpace supply. Frustrations are up. Assignments are being submitted late. Deadlines are being pushed back. And work quality is suffering.
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