Suddenly I feel antsy, like I'm fighting for my very existence.
The dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Cal State Long Beach has decided the school needs to run a feasibility study to see if my college newspaper, the one I worked on for most of my time there (talking at least 2-3 years), devoted most of my time to my last three semesters, lost a relationship over, almost failed classes for, and in general found my calling in, could be online only.
Why? I'm not sure. It would seem our school has betrayed us. We've served them since November 1949. We've gone through hell and high water to provide the campus with coverage, better coverage at time then the local media gave us. We've been betrayed a lot in the last few years -- forced to be independent so the J-department could get accreditation, causing us to lose all our funding; denied the biggest story in 2004-05 because of an underhanded deal with the Press-Telegram from our own president; lied to by members of the AS Senate; voted down by the very students we serve, but really this takes the cake.
Since we became independent, we have run things our way. Certainly others have tried shutting us down, telling us what we can and cannot print, threatening us because they feel we're racists, but damn it all, we persevered. We had dark times of being 4-page, black and white newsletters but on a recent visit to the newsroom I found the paper has been eight pages consistently and mostly with color. Despite so many contractors, so many trying to see us fall on our faces, we've taken control of the paper, provided students with coverage they won't see else where.
Many students read the paper in between classes, can they do that with an online version? Teachers have cited our articles during class, bringing in a copy to show students. Can they do that with an online version? Remember, not every room is a smart room, and when I was last there (Spring 2006) not many of the Liberal Arts buildings were.
Serving the student body aside, what about the J-students themselves? If you take away our print edition, how will we learn to design? copy edit? deal with space constraints? writing headlines to fit? cropping photos/graphics to look best on a page?
Sure there are classes, but you only learn so much in a semester of sitting and watching a teacher design a page. Students need real world experience. Without the Daily 49er I would never have gotten the job I have now working for the Daily Pilot, Coastline Pilot and Independent as part of Los Angeles Times Community News. My copy editing and designing skills came strongest from putting together a paper on a daily basis. Now I work for a daily and two weeklies. My managing editor chose me to design two major packages within a month. He didn't do it for my good looks.
And what about clips? Non-journalists, and sadly even some journalists, don't realize the value of clips. Not everyone wants to see a web print out of a reporter's story. And how can a designer or copy editor show their skills of laying out a page or writing a headline to fit without a print version?
And what about the friendships and bonds created in a newsroom? An online edition can be put together from home by one guy. Where do students learn to work together? In the classroom? Hardly. An hour and 15 minutes twice a week isn't enough to really learn someone's quirks, strengths, weakness, etc. Spending hours in a newsroom, seeing what they can do shows a person what can and cannot be expected of their coworkers.
Mr. Gerry Riposa, I don't know you reasons for trying to take away a valuable resource and tradition from the students, but you should take a longer, harder look at the choices you are making. They are most certainly wrong.
Gentle readers, if you'd like to help, please send a letter to the editor at http://www.daily49er.com/home/lettertotheeditor/ or e-mail at opiniond49er@gmail.com. Or even call the dean himself:
Gerry Riposa
Office: MHB-215
Phone: (562) 985-5381
Thank you for your support.
The dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Cal State Long Beach has decided the school needs to run a feasibility study to see if my college newspaper, the one I worked on for most of my time there (talking at least 2-3 years), devoted most of my time to my last three semesters, lost a relationship over, almost failed classes for, and in general found my calling in, could be online only.
Why? I'm not sure. It would seem our school has betrayed us. We've served them since November 1949. We've gone through hell and high water to provide the campus with coverage, better coverage at time then the local media gave us. We've been betrayed a lot in the last few years -- forced to be independent so the J-department could get accreditation, causing us to lose all our funding; denied the biggest story in 2004-05 because of an underhanded deal with the Press-Telegram from our own president; lied to by members of the AS Senate; voted down by the very students we serve, but really this takes the cake.
Since we became independent, we have run things our way. Certainly others have tried shutting us down, telling us what we can and cannot print, threatening us because they feel we're racists, but damn it all, we persevered. We had dark times of being 4-page, black and white newsletters but on a recent visit to the newsroom I found the paper has been eight pages consistently and mostly with color. Despite so many contractors, so many trying to see us fall on our faces, we've taken control of the paper, provided students with coverage they won't see else where.
Many students read the paper in between classes, can they do that with an online version? Teachers have cited our articles during class, bringing in a copy to show students. Can they do that with an online version? Remember, not every room is a smart room, and when I was last there (Spring 2006) not many of the Liberal Arts buildings were.
Serving the student body aside, what about the J-students themselves? If you take away our print edition, how will we learn to design? copy edit? deal with space constraints? writing headlines to fit? cropping photos/graphics to look best on a page?
Sure there are classes, but you only learn so much in a semester of sitting and watching a teacher design a page. Students need real world experience. Without the Daily 49er I would never have gotten the job I have now working for the Daily Pilot, Coastline Pilot and Independent as part of Los Angeles Times Community News. My copy editing and designing skills came strongest from putting together a paper on a daily basis. Now I work for a daily and two weeklies. My managing editor chose me to design two major packages within a month. He didn't do it for my good looks.
And what about clips? Non-journalists, and sadly even some journalists, don't realize the value of clips. Not everyone wants to see a web print out of a reporter's story. And how can a designer or copy editor show their skills of laying out a page or writing a headline to fit without a print version?
And what about the friendships and bonds created in a newsroom? An online edition can be put together from home by one guy. Where do students learn to work together? In the classroom? Hardly. An hour and 15 minutes twice a week isn't enough to really learn someone's quirks, strengths, weakness, etc. Spending hours in a newsroom, seeing what they can do shows a person what can and cannot be expected of their coworkers.
Mr. Gerry Riposa, I don't know you reasons for trying to take away a valuable resource and tradition from the students, but you should take a longer, harder look at the choices you are making. They are most certainly wrong.
Gentle readers, if you'd like to help, please send a letter to the editor at http://www.daily49er.com/home/lettertotheeditor/ or e-mail at opiniond49er@gmail.com. Or even call the dean himself:
Gerry Riposa
Office: MHB-215
Phone: (562) 985-5381
Thank you for your support.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
toothpickmoe:
Sort of like how it seems that no one notices when I update? Yeah, good times. 
obd:
ridiculuous. is there anyway the paper itself can generate more income?