We’re coming to the end of this semester and also the end of my time with the Student Voice. I wrote an article in the first edition about the problems I felt we were facing as a newspaper and I would like to address them now that the semester is over. In the last article, I said that the biggest issues we faced was a lack of communication, organization, and a cohesive foundation. These things remain serious problems.
When the semester began, launching a districtwide paper was a new endeavor. As the semester progressed, I assumed (incorrectly) that as we moved through the issues things would develop into a routine and a framework that could be used in the real world would be established. In my opinion, this has not happened, I do not see that a protocol has been established for the next semester’s classes; or something that defines the requirements of the semester. Also, there is never a time where the basics of editing are covered in depth.
What little organization that exists was created by the students this semester. Communication is still a major problem, and honestly I don’t think that’s a problem that we can overcome as long as this is a shared newspaper. Even with video conferencing, phones, Email and Web CT, it is very hard to communicate with the other campuses. Everything that we create is posted to a central website which in theory makes everything easy. In practice however, unless every person on the staff is in the habit of logging in every day, it makes it difficult to know who is doing what story, and when, and why. For example, I was elected Bureau Chief for VC on the second day of the semester, and that position was not accurately defined until mid-October when I was chastised for not fulfilling the requirements that had not been explained. To this day I am not sure what criteria are going to determine my grade.
The most important thing I feel we should have been doing this semester is to pave the way for the future students in this program, by creating a lasting foundation for them to build on. It was imperative that we establish a protocol for how the paper needs to be run, official deadlines, issue planning, coverage of all three campuses, and clarity about what is expected of us staffers. These things were present, but just enough for them to appear to be working to outsiders.
I know that several editors are leaving the paper after this semester, including myself, because of the way things have been run.
When the year began, we could be excused because many of us were inexperienced and no one had ever tried something of this magnitude. We no longer have excuses. I hope next semester brings clarity, credibility, and organization to the Student Voice.
