Founded as St. Louis Journalism Review in 1970
Should a student newspaper run the name of a female rape victim if she spoke in a public forum on the topic and gave those at the forum her name?
This is an appropriate question to ask in a journalism ethics class when discussing what should and should not be covered and how to go about covering it. But the question becomes more intriguing when following the reaction to the story that was run in a college newspaper.
The USA Today ran a piece about the plight of many college newspapers and their uncertain future. Gateway Journalism Review’s next issue devotes a portion of its magazine to this issue. What problems do college newspapers face and what are they doing to alleviate those problems.
This issue affects more than just college campuses. College newspapers are breeding grounds for tomorrow’s journalists. Tomorrow’s professionals are today’s students. Perhaps the answers to today’s problems in the professional newsroom will be answered by the innovations needed in college newsrooms. Or maybe college newspapers will continue to try the methods professional newsrooms are using. Maybe students can make them work.
The idea was direct and clear: Illinois university and college professors who work with students on investigative reporting would form a network to share ideas and experiences and collaborate on stories.
First proposed by Bill Freivogel, director of the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in spring 2010, the idea has grown into a network of Midwest university professors and students from six states about to complete the first phase of their initial project. The project focuses on the increased pressure on the mental health treatment on campuses and the shortcomings of that treatment.
Like most print news publications, the St. Louis Jewish Light, a 64-year-old weekly, has run into the reality of the 21st century: declining readership, declining revenue and online competition. To meet the challenges, the Jewish Light’s board of trustees and staff have made substantial changes to the paper’s content, distribution and revenue sources over the past few years.
The Jewish Light’s content runs the gamut of local, national and international news, op-ed, features, arts coverage, enterprise reporting, obituaries, columns, gossip, a calendar, crossword puzzles and social announcements. There are special sections and the quarterly Oy! magazine, each with a different focus and available in print only.
The Hunger Games, a New York Times bestseller written by Suzanne Collins, has drawn hearty reviews from fans and critics alike for its brilliant plot paired with a steady dose of suspense for both the reader and movie-goer.
The first book of the trilogy, whose movie adaptation has been No. 1 at the box office for four weeks, follows Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl living in District 12 of Panem. Panem is a post-apocalyptic country, which now occupies where North America once was. The country is made up of 13 districts and the Capitol, a well-developed metropolis that holds absolute power over the rest of the districts. Prior to where the book begins the narrative, District 13 started an uprising against the Capitol and the Capitol retaliated by leveling the district. District 13 is used as an example to the rest of the districts of what happens when the districts exercise any type of individual thought.