Dare You to Fly
abueno@theguidon.com

A Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) article dated October 18, titled “Should campus papers go online?” explored the possibility of school newspapers crossing the print era and making full use of the Internet’s on-the-dot, ever-updating nature. After all, the article says, some campus papers (like The LaSallian) are now solely maintaining online newspapers as an alternative to the printed word. Why move online? News is fluid and expires quickly; exploiting the Internet will retain the “freshness” of news and will deliver events to readers as they happen.

If I may say so, however, The GUIDON’s and other papers’ transition to the web have been slow and highly experimental. There are three stages of evolution of online news content, says the article “Killing Bill Gates” from the journalism book Blood on their Hands. The first stage involves merely copying, or “shoveling” information from print to digital; the second, producing original web content; and the third, employing unique methods of storytelling and writing that are suited for online reporting.

The GUIDON, though it produces breaking news stories as original web content, is still on the first stage, since it copies online content from print. The paper has also been heavily criticized for lapses in judgment for one of its online breaking news stories, which involved a suicide. While the goal of the article was to inform the community, no more and no less, The GUIDON overlooked the community’s readiness to receive sensitive news, and the paper’s capability to report on it.

These issues, and so much more, make moving online a complicated decision for any respectable newspaper that tries, while still in print, to represent its community the best way it can. Online newspapers demand more time and commitment—how many students are willing to offer theirs? Web papers raise issues of sourcing and credibility—how experienced are student journalists to judge trustworthy sources? Most importantly, the Internet opens possibilities for citizen journalism, or non-journalists reporting for the media. Is it time to let the whole community write for The GUIDON, perhaps, and not limit bylines to its members?

While all these sound good, however, it doesn’t say moving online will always work in a university setting. Case in point: The LaSallian. As of press time, its latest news update is dated February 29. It is now December.

Should the answer to PDI’s question of “Should campus papers go online?” be a big, firm “No!” then? I think not. The Internet, while it poses challenges for campus journalists in terms of effort, experience, and commitment, also makes way for improving school publications. Student blogs, for example, provide a wealth of potential story ideas. Forums can give editors insight on what their readers will want, and need to read about. Most of all, campus papers’ target readers—students—are mostly tech-savvy, and are more likely to browse the Internet than read the newspaper. They are also most likely to comment readily in the Internet, too, thus sparking dialogue and debate.

The point is not that print is dying. It’s not; it’s just taking a slightly different purpose, that of more in-depth analysis of the news. The web, meanwhile, is opening more opportunities for us to be updated whenever news happens, as it happens.

By moving online, anyone with access to the web—the student artist, athlete, scientist—can be part of a publication that should try to involve the community as much as possible. By moving online, student publications can produce more active content, stimulate more dynamic discourse, and possibly chronicle history-in-the-making with more impact. Maybe it’s worth a try.