The Washington City Paper devoted some 4,000 words yesterday to profiling local college newspapers. “Real newspapers are losing readers by the minute, especially those labeled `college-aged,'” it wrote. “Yet amid the industry death march its farm system thrives. According to a 2006 report in The Wall Street Journal, readership and revenue of college papers has generally held steady or grown in recent years.”
To a certain extent, the same can be said of THE HOYA. We’ve turned a pretty decent profit the last few years, and we’re reasonably confident, based on eye-balling our newspaper stands and checking our Web stats, that people are reading our stories. Yet in many ways, THE HOYA lags behind the top college newspapers. While the gap can’t be closed this year, it can be narrowed.
Expect more in-depth coverage. Rather than just grazing the surface of issues, we will make a point of getting at the core of issues this year. There are not two sides to every story. There are dozens.
Expect to hear more stories about your peers. So many Georgetown students accomplish remarkable things, and yet the nature of our school is that a vast majority of them – I think – go undocumented. As this university’s newspaper of record, we’re going to do a better job living up to that ideal and recording these feats.
Expect a newspaper more accountable to its readers. We’re far from perfect and you can help us identify areas in which we lag. Angry? Write a letter. Dissatisfied? Join us and make a difference. Want to discuss our coverage of this or that? Post on our newsroom blog. I plan to update it regularly to describe the tough decisions we face around here and explain why we choose what we choose, and then you can tell me what you think.
Expect THE HOYA to be more than a newspaper. Now, more than ever, new media is critically important. Check out our Web site (www.thehoya.com). It has vastly improved over the past year and will continue to do so this year. Read our blogs, which we will begin to update more regularly, and leave us comments. Stay tuned for other new features, like videos.
And watch as THE HOYA transitions from successful student club to fledgling small business. As many of you have heard over the past few years, THE HOYA has long been trying to become independent from university control. But even though we’ll no longer be legally affiliated with the university when that day comes, the aim is to strengthen our bonds with the community, not weaken them. As an independent newspaper, we would be in a better position to pursue long-term growth and become one of those truly elite newspapers. We’re ready for both the freedom and the responsibility. This year, we will be making our strongest push yet for independence.
The City Paper closes its first section with this about college newspapers: “There’s still no better place for the misfit freshman yearning to be relevant and `make a difference.’ Take a closer look at those freshmen, and you see the character of journalism at its formative stage.”
I do believe that is true of THE HOYA. For the most part, our staff really does want to make a difference on campus. It is with the goal of monitoring, improving and holding accountable this Hilltop that we spend long hours in our dusty Leavey Center office. For Georgetown to be truly great, its campus press must be as well.
Freshmen: If this sounds interesting to you, consider getting involved as a writer, photographer, layout assistant or copy editor. E-mail me at editorthehoya.com for more information.
And everyone: We can’t hold the university accountable if you don’t do the same to us. Read critically, ask questions, and if you have concerns, compliments, or just want to vent, e-mail me about that as well.
Here’s to making 2008-2009 even better than 2007-2008, in these pages, but mostly, on our campus.
Bailey Heaps
Editor in Chief
The Hoya
August 2008
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