Today marks the debut of a new districtwide student newspaper that carries the broad but elusive mandate to cover Ventura, Oxnard and Moorpark with equal enthusiasm and ink. After drastic cost-saving measures last year that included axing the journalism programs at Oxnard and Ventura and stretching the Moorpark program to include the other campuses, journalism students and staff are moving beyond their losses and treading into new territory with a groundbreaking districtwide paper serving Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark colleges.
Joshua Falconer, editor for the newspaper, sees this as an opportunity to expand that sense of community to all three Ventura county campuses. “Now that we’re districtwide, readers can gain a broader understanding of the issues and events of their own campus by reading about them in the context of the other campuses,” he said
The plan to create a districtwide newspaper grew out of the dismantled programs at Oxnard and Ventura and the Board of Trustee’s desire to keep student media on all three campuses. To accomplish this, the one remaining full-time journalism instructor teaches one section of media writing classes by traveling to alternating campuses. Toni Allen, the full-time jouralism instructor at Oxnard College was reassigned to Moorpark where she teaches journalism and graphic arts and oversees production of the paper. Regardless of whether the instructor lectures from Ventura, Oxnard or Moorpark, the other two campuses are connected by videoconferencing that allows students on all three campuses see and hear each other and the instructor. The course also includes an online component, so students complete exercises, take quizzes and file stories using the online education delivery system, WebCT. In addition, students who have signed up for the newspaper staff classes join the editors’ story conference each week by teleconference from their own campuses, so they do not have to drive across the county to participate with the districtwide newspaper.
But there are challenges. Students have to learn the WebCT technology and there are frequent bugs in the videoconferencing scenario, including equipment glitches or inaccessible classrooms when the instructor is not present. The participation from the Oxnard and Ventura campuses, where most students believe journalism is no longer available, is low.
Dr. Pam Eddinger, executive vice-president of student learning at Moorpark College, sees this as a great opportunity for the journalism students “What this affords our students who are in the classes is a very particular opportunity to learn how to pull a diverse community together,” she said.
The journalism program serves an important role for both the students who are enrolled in it to the students who read the newspaper. “I think one of the most important functions of a student newspaper is to create a sense of community for students.” said Kathy Leslie, an English professor at Moorpark College.
Falconer said the Student Voice staff is ready to meet the challenges. “Each of these challenges will give us a broad experience that will prepare us for careers in journalism,” he said. “Just because we’re working together doesn’t mean we have to compromise the differences that make us unique. Let there be campus rivalries and cultural differences. All I ask is that we let these differences be known in this newspaper in a fair and balanced way.”
