How often have you heard one of your fellow students, or perhaps even one of your professors, trash your school’s newspaper? Better yet, how many times have you criticized your school’s newspaper?
Notice I referred to East Tennessee State University’s newspaper, the East Tennessean, as “your” school’s newspaper? Well, it is. And if you’ll notice, there are rather large, prominently placed advertisements in your school’s newspaper soliciting your opinions, and/or your help in writing, nearly every week. Well trust me; the ads I speak of have been there, usually on Page 2. Look for them sometime.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Do you ever recall hearing an old adage about politics that goes something like this? “If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain about your elected officials.” And why would you? After all, you hadn’t exercised your right to vote. Your voice didn’t count. But, fortunately we enjoy First Amendment rights in this country.
When you think about it, it’s really a shame that the April 2 edition of your school’s newspaper was only eight pages long, two of which were full-page ads, when you consider that there are nearly 14,000 voices in the student body this semester. Mull on that little tidbit the next time you hear one of your fellow students “dissing” your school’s newspaper. Heck, for that matter, ponder for a minute what you might have contributed to this edition of your school’s newspaper, had you taken the time to do so, before you toss it in the trash.
Last month, I volunteered to help a graduate student in the Sociology Department with a research project for her thesis. And oddly enough, it was a telephone survey soliciting, of all things, ETSU students’ opinions of their school’s newspaper. And after speaking with the 10 or so students who could be bothered to take a few minutes out of their day to speak with me, I discovered some very revealing information about how your school’s newspaper is viewed.
First of all, of those respondents who participated with me in the survey that evening, most of them said they read at least parts of the newspaper on a regular basis. That much was encouraging. And, only a few gave the paper poor marks in any given category. This was again, encouraging. Of course, I did hear some disparaging remarks concerning the content of your school’s newspaper, or lack thereof. But, overall, most agreed the paper was pretty good for what it is, and therein lies the problem.
Most of the respondents reported lack of content as their biggest complaint. They wished for more content concerning local events around town, for one. Others expressed a desire to see more content about what’s going on with the various departments around campus. Still, others thought it might be neat to see more people profiles, ones about fellow students, faculty and staff members and other interesting people in the community. What do you think? Or do you care? If so, your school’s newspaper could use you.
But how could I help? Good question. And the answer is, in numerous ways. You could share a great essay or a research paper that you were particularly proud of. Perhaps you are majoring in geography and you created an awesome map highlighting the rivers of our region. I bet others would like to see it. You could always attend a concert or a sporting event, something you would enjoy anyway, and write about your experience.
One of the respondents I spoke with from the survey said she wished there were more opinion writers in the paper each week, even something a little controversial, she said, would be kind of neat now and then. Maybe she was referring to when Eddie Jenkins was bashing bands on a weekly basis, a few years back.
I’ll leave you with the following famous quote from Gandhi to consider as you critique this edition of your school’s newspaper: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.

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