The 25 Pacemakers that have put The Auburn Plainsman in the top percentile of student-run newspapers in the U.S. are pointless without the trust of our readers.
We've been at this since 1893, and as the fall semester begins, we are starting off with a bang. Our editorial staff is working to rebrand The Plainsman we hope you know and love.
For those who are new to campus, understand this: Our staff is made up of students of all ages,
Our staff balances our part-time jobs, social lives, student involvement and classes with our work here — just like any other struggling college students.
The only difference is our job is for you and every reader who comes across our links online or picks up one of these old things we call newspapers.
The face of The Plainsman has been sedentary for a good while, and it's time for a change. With a new color scheme, a new look and the release of our new, responsive website happening soon, we look forward to feedback from you, our readers.
We hope to balance our prestigious history with an eye for the future and an eye for how students ingest their news. We know it has changed, and we know we are behind.
The new dynamic we hope to achieve will be interactive and engaging — open to readers at all times.
Interaction with the public is something we want, and we won't run away when there are disagreements. We are a team of journalists in training, and we know we will make mistakes.
We hope you can understand that, too.
Our staff understands the distrust of journalists spreading across our country, and we have all encountered situations in which Auburn students and community members have felt uneasy toward our team — reluctant to talk, reluctant to trust.
We want to change that, with your help, of course.
Our response to such uneasiness is understanding, but simultaneously, we ask for a degree of trust in us and our responsibility to serve the public. We’re not out to hurt, embarrass or shame anyone. It’s our mandate as reporters to tell the whole story, the true story and the meaningful story.
And to our readers in the community, who may be Auburn graduates or someone who grew up here: Our goal is not to be a newspaper read solely by students. We want your trust, as well.
We have expanded our reach to more community locations with over 15 new paper distribution points. We are also putting a greater focus on covering business news, local
Our social media pages are getting more traction than ever, and we are adamant about working for the online reader as much as the print reader. Our online accounts provide a direct line of communication from our writers and editors to the readers, and we want readers to take advantage of it.
The editorial staff values commentary from readers in any form.
Opinion works and editorials published by our staff will never please every person that comes across them. It's an impossible mission but we have embarked upon a new push to gather opinion writers of every viewpoint.
Regardless, the conversations that arise from these pieces are invaluable, so we won’t stop producing them.
Our motto would not be "A Spirit that is not Afraid" if we ran away from the people that made us who we are.
From the entire staff at The Auburn Plainsman, we invite you to follow us as we change the dynamic, gain your trust — article by article — and work to produce the best damn news Auburn has ever seen.
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