Handling tragedies on campus

No one wants to be responsible for informing the student body of a death. At most schools, such things are handled through administration or counseling offices of some kind.

Many school papers avoid reporting deaths -- no obituaries, limited coverage, etc -- usually citing ethical issues. But you cannot simply pick and choose the news. Student newspapers have an equal responsibility to report tragedies as the professional media outlets.

There is no denying, however, the necessity of handling these situations delicately. Many schools' administration argue that any case of suicide should simply not be reported through campus media, due to copy cat concerns. They also try to limit coverage of violent crimes, fearing for the school's reputation, as well as some illnesses.

A good newspaper can report on these cases without bias, however, and can provide valuable information about limiting the chances of further tragedy. In a situation involving suicide, a newspaper staff can take a proactive position and direct students towards counseling and other help. If there is a legitimate concern, such as illness or crime, a newspaper can inform students of precautions to take.

Finally, if a member of a campus' community dies, the community has the right to acknowledge it. Even a simple obituary can help with the grieving process.

Farming out your comics section?

Some papers chose not to run any comic strips, or puzzles, or anything 'fun', although it seems like an easy way to draw in readers -- Johnny may grab his friend in microeconomics and say "Read this strip!" or "What's 10-down?", but he'll never ask, "Did you see that review of the cafeteria?" It's up to you, though; it's your paper. If you aren't, though, you won't find this post very interesting.

There are thousands of comic strips out on the vast internet, whose creators would love the exposure of even a student newspaper. But are they valuable to your paper? Their value boils down to how much of a local paper you are trying to create. It's easy to convince an art student on campus to draw a comic, or even make one yourself (there are several comic strip generators online, even -- all you have to do is upload a photo or two). It's just as easy to get puzzles or humor columns.

It's not ridiculous to look outside your community for these things, though. You may be able to find a more dependable or humorous source online. Some will charge, some will be work for exposure alone. It all boils down to how much of your paper you want to come from students at your school.

The Class of 2011

Every year, Beloit College publishes a list of points to keep in mind about the world view of new students. The original intention of the list was to aid instructors in relating to their students, but it is now an annual event for national newspapers. USA Today published the list last week.

Any item on this list is an opportunity for an op-ed piece or an interview with an instructor. Heck, what about the differences between this year's freshmen and this year's senior class? Those four years make the difference of whether a person might personally remember the fall of the Berlin Wall!

A list like this is also an opportunity to consider your paper's demographics. What's popular with the 'new kids'? And what doesn't matter?

The New Sports Coverage

ESPN used to be the new sports coverage -- round the clock information on the most popular sports and teams. The new new sports coverage, though, is ESPN.com. Multimedia presentations, up to the minute scores, complex analysis. And it's not just ESPN. If the local news media (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.) covers anything about your school, they cover football season.

Heck, your school probably has people covering sporting events -- the Athletic Department may have its own photographers and writers, as well as Alumni Relations. How can an itty bitty campus paper compete?

You can't cop out and you can't limit coverage to just one or two sports -- Title IX issues can crop up pretty fast that way. You're going to have to use your imagination.

Start with the fact that, as a fellow student, you may have easier access to an athlete. You can handle any kind of 'off the field' story in a way that other media has no hope of doing. As students, they're even eligible to write for your student paper. You'll never see the star volleyball player reading off the morning news on the local affiliate, but why can't she write a column about the team's current rankings?

Why don't you have a career section?

Name me one newspaper with job listings that has never included an article about career advice. That's right. You can't. I understand that most small papers don't have room for a full career section, but why not a column or occasional feature?

It doesn't make sense, then, that college, or even high school, newspapers offer absolutely no job advice. After all, aren't you in school to be better equipped to make money?

We're talking about a super easy subject, too. Colleges have career centers, full of very helpful people. Ask for interviews. Ask for press releases. Ask for help. You'll get more material than you can use in a year.*

Trying to develop a little more interaction with your readers? Let people send in job questions. I'll bet you that you can get someone in your local career counseling office to write the column -- odds are good that you can get it for free, too.

Trying to up your ad sales? Offer to sell job listings near your career column for a premium rate.

Trying to find content that you can delay in case of big stories? Develop a couple of employment features that can be left on the back burner until you need them. The great thing about career stories is that they're a constant. Someone's always looking for a job.

Sample story ideas:

• 10 tips for a tip-top resume
• Finding a summer internship -- that pays!
• The extracurriculars recruiters look for
• On-campus resources for your next job hunt
  

*High schoolers, your counselors and advisers offer a lot of the same help.