“Journalism is changing.” Anyone who has taken a journalism class over the past few years has heard this mantra. “The future of journalism is up in the air,” our teachers tell us. “The Internet has changed everything.”
It’s true: The web has become the driving force of the 24-hour news cycle, and print journalism seems to be dying. With innumerable news websites, blogs and social networks available at our fingertips, less people go to old-fashioned newspapers for important information.
But when the older journalists, those who’ve been trained in traditional, classic journalism, tell us that the industry is changing, they also say this: “The future of journalism is in your hands.”
Until now, The New School Free Press has operated much like newspapers did in 1978. Though we’ve tried to bring you all of the important news from our community, our bi-weekly print schedule often made our articles irrelevant after a few days. Instead of taking part in the greater discussions of the news world, we floated in the background, failing to provide our readers with the information they needed.
While some people may want to read about Halloween in mid-November, we’ve finally decided to take the plunge into the 21st century. From now on, our website will be updated on a daily basis. We’ll be bringing you informative, timely stories with all the basics: who, what, when, where and why. Our printed newspaper, meanwhile, will be reserved for longer, more in-depth stories that delve into complicated issues and that, we hope, will be well-worth the time it takes to read them.
No longer will our readers be plagued by untimely and irrelevant articles about changes to the New School administration or recent college events, articles that are a week old and two paragraphs too long. When something important happens, you can read about it right away at NSFreePress.com. And for longer, more illuminating articles on issues in our community, you can read our print version — which, you may have noticed, has gotten a little facelift as well.
This new format will help us to better serve our community and to fulfill our role as The New School’s student-run student newspaper. Journalism is, after all, a public service, and The New School Free Press Version 2.0 (if you will), is going to do a better job of performing that public service.
This story appeared in print in Issue 5, page 3, on November 2, 2011.