Posted by the Editorial Board
On this Friday evening it seems timely to use both this space and this time of the week to publicly address the changes in The Skidmore News effective this semester.
Up until this academic year, every Friday would see the distribution of a fresh printed edition of our newspaper on campus. Now, however, our editorial board is pursuing a new direction for the publication, the most noticeable consequence being the transition to an online-only format.
On a provisional basis for this semester, we have set out to retire the weekly print edition and produce this online-only publication, with new content posted five days a week. Should we fail miserably, the print edition may return next semester, but we have high hopes for our new model.
The industry of print journalism has been struggling for years, competing with the proliferation of 24-hour cable news, the Internet and the resulting accelerated news cycle. Collegiate journalism has remained something of a stronghold for printed news – we have no cable networks to compete with, and no obligation to be profitable.
Nonetheless, we believe we can deliver something better. Publishing weekly has put us perpetually behind the eight ball with regard to the timeliness of our news. Far too often we have been late to the proverbial party, or have missed it entirely. Furthermore, every week we would pour an enormous amount of time and resources into designing our print issue, time that could be better spent generating content.
No one is sadder to see the print edition fall by the wayside than we are. The future, however, is bright. We are going to be able to be able to publish more content in a timelier manner. We will be a more involved presence on campus. By not publishing a print edition, we will also be saving a few hundred pounds of paper each week. (We apologize to any papier-mâché enthusiasts who feel slighted by our environmental responsibility.)
Our website, www.skidmorenews.com, will see new content posted at least five days a week. You can also receive Twitter updates from @TheSkidmoreNews, or find us on Facebook. Additionally, in the coming weeks we will be launching a dedicated mobile reader, available in both the Apple App Store and the Android Market. Finally, even though there will not be a new paper to read every Friday, we will send out emails featuring the biggest stories of the week.
The loss of our print product is a sad moment, but it is also a stirring one. We have the opportunity to do something exciting, something beneficial to the college community as a whole, and something that we hope will ultimately improve The Skidmore News as an organization and as a news source. We appreciate your feedback and your continued readership.