Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
A spirit that is not afraid

EDITORIAL | The role of your student-run newspaper

What is the mission of your student-run newspaper?
What is the mission of your student-run newspaper?

As a student at Auburn University adjusting to the start of a new school year, you may be looking to The Auburn Plainsman for news and entertainment.

But what is the role of your university’s student-run newspaper?

The American Press Institute, founded in 1946 with the mission to encourage the advancement of news media, defines the role of news as a "utility to empower the informed." You may click our link-in-bio or type theplainsman.com into your web browser for your latest news on sports or culture, for your top five miss homecoming or just to learn more about the latest club on campus and through all of these ways you are staying informed. 

But The Plainsman doesn't exist to only inform you in those ways, in these slice-of-life everyday type of entertainment ways. In all cases, The Plainsman seeks to be objective and factual. We are not funded by the University in order to act independently and objectively, to produce unbiased work. It's what we've sought to do since we were founded in 1893, and what we work daily to do now. To uncover the truth in such ways that journalists are taught. 

The Plainsman's purpose is not, and has never been, to serve as a public relations firm. 

We seek to paint Auburn as it is, to peel back the curtains and show you the good, the bad, the ugly in the most honest way possible. 

It exists to serve as a witness bearer, authenticator and sense-maker, presenting accurate and comprehensive accounts of newsworthy events to the inhabitants of the world around it.

It exists to serve as a watchdog that empowers its audience to expand their knowledge on current events and do something with the information they are given. 

It exists to serve as a forum organizer and role model, facilitating meaningful conversation between individuals of all backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, genders and ages.

The Auburn Plainsman's role is the same role that, according to API, every news outlet should embody— "to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies and their governments."

A Pew Research study showed that 53% of U.S. adults say the news media has the most responsibility in reducing the amount of made-up news and information.

The role of your student-run newspaper is to take up that responsibility. 

Whether you be a Democrat, Republican, Christian, atheist, person of color, out-of-state student, Alabama native or member of any other demographic — The Plainsman is here for you. 

As you continue your fall semester, know that the doors of Suite 1111 are always open to hear and report on all of it. 

The good, the bad and the ugly. 


Editorials represent the majority view of The Plainsman's editorial board and do not necessarily represent that of the entire newsroom. 

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Auburn Plainsman delivered to your inbox

Editorial Board | Fall 2022

Editorials represent the majority view of The Plainsman's editorial board and do not necessarily represent that of the entire newsroom. 


Share and discuss “EDITORIAL | The role of your student-run newspaper” on social media.