With each new year comes a new editor who is looking to change the face of journalism. The editor writes this column to tell you how different the paper will look and read, but three months later, nothing changes.
I, on the other hand, would like to simply describe the purpose of The Plainsman, and what steps, regardless of how small, we are taking to improve the way you receive your campus news.
The best way to describe the newsroom is to equate it to Stars Wars.
The newsroom is made up of Jedi. I am Yoda, my managing editor is Obi Won, and everyone else makes up the Jedi Council.
Our basic goal as reporters is to protect you from the Dark Side. Our light saber is our pen, and we use it to protect you and ourselves from the evils of the world.
But enough with the Star Wars analogy.
Our real goal of The Plainsman is to provide you with quality stories that interest you.
Over the next year, we want to write what really matters to the students, because we are your student newspaper.
In order to present your news to you in a faster manner, we are determined to conquer the world of social media.
Sure we tweet and send the stories out through Facebook, but there is so much more we can do with these media.
We want to use them to get your feedback. If you have a friend that does something awesome, write a note on our Wall, or if you read a funny quote in our print or online edition, tweet at us that you like it.
For us, social media should be fully interactive.
Not only will we be focusing on social media, but we will also be experimenting with multimedia.
In the past we've made the effort to get at least one video up per semester.
I'm sure you've enjoyed the still shot of Gov. Robert Bentley for the past couple of weeks, but we are working to improve the frequency of our multimedia.
We also want to add more slideshows and sound slideshows. We will be doing a weekly slideshow that represents the stories we have covered that week.
The biggest thing we want to do with this year is get you involved.
Don't forget to pick up your copy of the newspaper every Thursday and remind all your friends to do the same. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Also, check our website for updates on breaking news and multimedia. And remember, may the force be with you.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
