Greetings, from your friendly neighborhood public editor.
We have had a lot of dialogue with several different groups lately about different topics of our newspaper. Seeing as we are a journalism publication, the most popular thing students and faculty like to engage with us about is the content of our paper, and what can be changed to better and diversify our content.
In order to be as transparent as a student newspaper can be, we hold almost-monthly meet and greets, giving the student body a great opportunity to talk to us. As public editor, I take great pride in organizing these events as a fairly convenient way to engage with members of the public, and better our relationship with them. We even reward them with free stuff.
We issue surveys while the students meet our staff, and the feedback that we get from these surveys is very valuable. With each meet and greet we have, our feedback becomes better. With almost 200 surveys gathered in a four-hour period, I’ve spent hours upon hours flipping through what people had to say about our newspaper and the content that’s in it. Good, bad, ridiculous and all that’s in between, I love to provide our faithful readers with tidbits about what others had to say about our paper.
We use this information to try and assess what could be better about the Collegiate Times. For example, those surveyed claimed that they would read the CT more if they were not as busy or lazy, if the CT were more accessible, or they knew more about our online content. Although we can’t help people time manage or lighten their schedules so that they have time for the CT, we certainly can add more racks around campus, potentially move our existing racks into more convenient locations, or focus on our Web site content at www.collegiatetimes.com more often.
A majority of those surveyed read the CT two to three times a week, whether online or in print. If they didn’t read it as often, the most likely reason was because of their hectic schedule. One student even suggested having a “watered down” version of the CT: one that is more direct and to the point than the full newspaper, similar to the weekly papers that we put during the summer sessions when the entire student body isn’t here. These are all ideas
I’ll suggest to our management and see if they’re feasible, seeing as they are ideas that at least some students would like to see happen.
Although the location of our meet and greet this time (immediately in front of Dietrick Hall) may have skewed results with a concentration of on-campus inhabitants, it surprised me that almost 70 percent of those surveyed lived on campus. As you might know, a little more than 9,000 of our 28,000 students live on campus. There is a slight disconnect here, and proof that we need to more actively advertise our content and receive feedback from off-campus students.
As far as what people would like to see more in our paper, these topics included world news, sex talk, Virginia legislative news and comics. On a scale of one to 10, our average ranking was an 8.2. Additional comments that were noteworthy included, “need better people to write for you,” “very good paper,” “good coverage”and“more comics needed.” Our campus likes comics, I see.
As moderator of our online commenting forum, I am also responsible for reviewing more examples of informal feedback in the form of anonymous commenting. While online commenting will be the topic of my next column (look for it soon after spring break), the content that I see is hard not to mention in this piece.
Concerns that we sometimes receive about being biased, skewed, or unprofessional are contrasted with what we hear at these meet and greets. We want you to come out, give us your opinion, and let us know how you think the paper could better inform our community. I would like to personally encourage every single person who has ever made an anonymous comment to come to our next meet and greet, which will be conveniently held on the Drillfield in April. Hope to see you there.
A version of this article appeared in the Mar 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
Then why would you not have an open dialogue with the members of CSA? Why are you refusing to talk to them?
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We edit what you say and refuse to accept anonymous letters, but we welcome anonymous comments.
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We can edit...FOR ANY REASON a letter sent to the editor...but WE bury comments that are inappropriate to entice people to read them.
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I'll definitely be there for the meet and greet. That meeting that you put the video up for was painful to watch. The liberal anti free speech sentiment was astoundingly ignorant. How is anonymously commenting in any way a safety risk. The reality is the people advocating for accountability are trying to silence disagreeing view points. The liberals on that panel don't need to know our names for any reason. They just want to intimidate those with views that they deem unacceptable because they are so confidently arrogant in the belief their view of the world is the correct one.
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I remember the good old days when I used to comment (respectfully), people would get mad. . . and then they would RESPOND to my comments thus inspiring useful dialogue. Sometimes the responses were offensive - but that wasn't really relevant, because it became transparent that the people being offensive didn't really have anything useful to say, so you overlook them. I distinctly remember a conversation I had with what must have been the entire population of China over issues regarding Taiwan and Tibet - I learned a lot about how the Chinese view those two regions, and some of the history involved there. People say offensive things sometimes in online forums - it happens. But to believe that comments, anonymous or not, can be policed and purged whenever someone's feeling get hurt is ridiculous. Being offended is part of being alive sometimes. . .
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A chilling report by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundations High School Initiative found that 75 percent of high school students believe flag burning is illegal and that nearly 50 percent believe the government can censor the Internet. And nearly half disagree that newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
At the college level, universities tend to pride themselves on fostering an environment more ripe for boisterous debate. This study, however, demonstrates how steep the learning curve is for incoming students.
To boost knowledge of the First Amendment on campus, Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech (EMCVT) started First Amendment Week a series of activities and projects designed to spur debate, question the norm and shed false perceptions.
Since 1997, EMCVT has been the provider of student media publications on the Virginia Tech campus through the Collegiate Times newspaper, Bugle yearbook, Silhouette literary arts magazine, WUVT radio station, VTTV television station and Student Publications Photo Staff. The free speech emphasis of our mission is inherent in our divisions, but this event is designed to show a more deliberate dedication to freedom of expression.
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I wonder when the CT will come out and admit that they are suffering as a paper? No one reads the paper (numbers WAY down), and now organizations are pulling funding. It will only be a matter of time before the paper starts doing what the students want.
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In all honesty this paper completely sucks. I remember in 2005 when I was a freshman I used to look forward to picking up a copy on the way to class, now I would rather read those retarded unicorn posts on craigslist's rants and raves. I actually think the goal of the paper has shifted from providing a fun and informative piece, to seeing if they can create the first fatality associated with boredom. I don't know if Justin and the rest of the staff are just experimenting with journalism, but for the sake of 25000+ students I wish you would stop. Its unfair to the students here to put this crap out 4 days a week.
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I agree, the CT has been going down hill for a while. The "news" articles are often published a week or so after the event and the featured pages are dull. The only thing I ever look forward to reading in the CT is the He Said/She Said which also could use some better topics here and there.
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