liam_hsjw25By Anne Stief and Elle Swoope
Walk across Ohio University’s campus in Athens, Ohio during a semester, and student journalists can be found on street corners, in campus buildings and at events. Current and former students at the university say that robust reporting hasn’t changed, but the way students read local news reported by their peers has.
Liz Stief, who graduated from Ohio University in 2000, experienced the campus before the rise of social media. There was no internet access on phones, and student media was focused on print and television. Stief said student reporters were visible, actively asking questions and documenting campus life.
“We didn’t have the internet,” she said. “Everything was in the newspaper or on TV. If something was going on, you’d find out because people were physically out reporting it.”
She remembered the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at the university most clearly through Matt Lauer, a former Today Show anchor and OU graduate who returned for campus events.
More than two decades later, the student journalism experience in Athens is different but not unfamiliar. Current Ohio University student Evyn Swoope said student journalism at OU still has a strong presence on campus, but most of it now lives online.
“I see stuff all the time from Thread Magazine,” Swoope said. “Even though I haven’t read it cover to cover, I know people involved in it, and it’s always on social media.”
He said student journalists help him stay connected.
“If I’m curious about something going on at OU, chances are I’ll stumble across it on Instagram or through a student publication,” he said.
Grace Siener
Lauren