Editors’ Letters: “Do we need a student paper?”

What is a student newspaper? This rag you are currently holding in your hands is what is traditionally known as the student paper, but in the digital age when we can consume unlimited amounts of content whenever we wish, what purpose, if any, does it still serve?

What sets student media apart from other media you can consume is that it is written, produced and delivered to you by people like you, students. Anyone can write for their student paper. Whether it is news, views or reviews, there is a place for your work in the reems of copy that make up the many pages student newsprint.

Of course you can access this content online, which can be updated more readily and distributed more easily than a physical newspaper. Many people say print is dead and in the specific case of the student rag, claim we’d be better off transferring online.

There’s something satisfying in print though. The smell, the feel and look of a paper is still superior to the best tablet versions of newspapers. There’s also a special feeling when seeing your name in print, something permanent about it.

There is no other paper in the world that is writing content just for Warwick students.

Whilst it is still financially viable to print a newspaper, I see no reason to stop. The media today is more diverse than it has ever been, and we would be doing our writers a disservice if we were to switch to just one platform. The front page of a newspaper can dictate the terms of debate far more than the front page of a website can.

Our print run is 3000 so we can assume around 5000 people read the paper. Our online traffic is upwards of 20,000 per month. Some people read the paper, some people read the website and a lot read both. We want to give as much exposure to our writers’ fantastic content as we can and this dual approach is the best way to assure this.

What is special about a campus newspaper is that it’s content is specific to the students who live in this small area. There is no other paper in the world that is writing content just for Warwick students.

Student media is a great place to take risks with content. With no proprietors focused on profit, we can experiment with delivering new content in exciting ways. In that way, it is the sandbox of the media industry.

If you are interested in writing, then it can provide you with a platform for your work to be read by more people than ever before. People both on and off campus will look out for your work and you can begin to build up a reputation as a writer.

It is also a great place to make mistakes and learn from them. If something goes wrong, you can pick yourself up much more easily than in the cut-throat world of Fleet Street.

Most of all, this is your student paper. If you want to see something different in it, then you can make it happen. There’s not many other platforms out there where you are so crucial to it’s development.