There is not usually much time to reflect on a semester well-done — or utterly botched, depending on which stressed-out student you ask — ahead of finals week and the clamor of the holiday season, but I’d like to take a swing at it.
About a year ago, The Post’s executive editors were excitedly planning for an announcement that we thought could shake the traditional college media model, while ensuring that the newspaper’s century-old legacy remained intact.
In January — after a Fall Semester of intense research — we announced that The Post would cut print to once a week and redesign and launch a new website. Of course, we had known that fact for months. I spent much of last winter break flipping through old issues of The Post, researching media business models and so on — general, freaking-out stuff.
The love our staff felt for The Post was so strong that it weighed on the shoulders of the executive editors and those planning the bold move. We could not let them down. Even more so, we could not let our readers down.
Through long days spent in Alden Library’s microfilms (a wonderful resource, by the way), it became increasingly obvious that The Post reflected a watchdog, a messenger, an advocate and a source of entertainment decade after decade for Ohio University students and Athens’ residents. We had to ask ourselves if changing our printing format and website would upset that tradition.
With that in mind, we made it to the first issue of this academic year ready for change, and eager for constructive criticism. Our editors now pass out The Post twice weekly, and spend hours planning those print editions. We also devote the majority of our day to the platform we realized our readers found most useful: our website, particularly viewed on a mobile device.
Since, I have not questioned our decision to transition, though I still wonder if our staff is finding the best way to reach its readers. I look around our newsroom and see journalists and staff members whom I care for deeply, and I’m sure many of them are wondering the same thing. One semester later, have we been successful in maintaining The Post’s mission?
Perhaps it’s my nasty habit of questioning everything, or our staff’s laborious tradition of caring too much, but I want to spend these next few weeks away from school thinking of ways to improve. Next semester, we’ll change again I’m sure — just in smaller ways.
Emma Ockerman is a senior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Email her at eo300813@ohio.edu or tweet her @eockerman.
