Mission
The East Tennessean, the student-run newspaper of East Tennessee State University, serves the ETSU community by acting as the watchdog of the campus and covering occurrences on and around campus with fairness and objectivity.
Printed by the Elizabethton Star every Monday and Thursday during the academic year, the East Tennessean is distributed to most university buildings and can be obtained for free from one of the publication’s many racks.
Approach
Diversify
Every semester, we aim to hire staff members with diverse interests and footholds in organizations and departments around campus. These writers and editors act as the newspaper’s experts on their particular topics of interest, allowing the newspaper to more adequately cover as much of university life as possible.
Evaluate
The newspaper conducts a readership survey for the newspaper on a recurring basis. This survey focuses on awareness, where and when students and faculty access the newspaper’s content and the areas the newspaper’s readers would like to see improved upon. In addition to the survey, newspaper leaders are constantly engaged in a discussion about ways to better the publication.
Expand
We are actively engaged in expanding our multimedia presence. In 2018, we created a Vimeo channel that showcases our video news coverage. In fall 2019, we collaborated with The Edge 89.5 HD4, ETSU’s student radio station, to create a weekly news podcast called the ET Echo. The podcast is aired on The Edge and can be streamed on SoundCloud.
Interact
The newspaper is constantly interacting with its readers. We are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vimeo and accept letters to the editor and guest columns from readers as space allows. Anyone interested in getting in touch with newspaper leaders should send an email to eteditor@etsu.edu from a university-issued email account.
Employment
The East Tennessean hires editors and designers at the beginning of each semester and hires staff writers and photographers on an on-going basis. Anyone interested in applying to work for the East Tennessean should complete the application here.
Learn about some of our many successful alumni here.
Executive Editor
The executive editor recruits the editors, writers and photographers who put together each semiweekly edition of the East Tennessean. He or she also establishes goals and works with the managing editor to work toward those goals, sits as a voting member of the Student Publications Committee, makes all final legal and ethical decisions, and finalizes each edition before sending it to the Elizabethton Star for printing.
Section Editor
Section editors work with staff writers to produce content packages for the East Tennessean’s print and online editions. Each section editor oversees two of six sections: news, editorial, arts & entertainment, features, athletics and photography. They are responsible for assigning and editing the stories prepared for their sections before submitting them to the executive editor for further review.
Visual Managing Editor
The visual managing editor works with the photography editor to ensure that each edition’s photographic needs are met. He or she also processes all photographs published online and in print.
Designer
Designers work with the executive editor and visual managing editor to lay out each edition of the East Tennessean.
Staff Writer
Staff writers are responsible for going out and finding the stories that make it into the East Tennessean. They are assigned to a specific section of the newspaper. By covering one section, writers develop a list of contacts they talk to regularly and a body of knowledge that allows them to act as the newspaper’s expert on a particular topic.
Photographer
Photographers are responsible for going to various campus events and shooting a variety of photos for use in the lay out of each edition of the East Tennessean and online.
