Blair Tilson & Kari Travis | Echo
It's year 101 at The Echo, and big changes are ahead.
In the midst of an evolving news cycle, The Echo is looking for relevant ways to reach its audience. We are no longer just a newspaper, but a news organization. Especially when we take a look at recent studies and see that most people spend more time with digital, rather than traditional, media.
Last year we saw the creation of our online news website, and this is the year that will take us above and beyond, extending Taylor news across all media platforms.
This semester brings the launch of our broadcast initiative. Yes, that's right. The Echo News is joining YouTube to present other types of stories - the kind that are told not only in words, but also in visuals.
Some of you may be familiar with our Facebook and Twitter, but this year, we are expanding our social media campaign while still building our website. And we are rising to the occasion by implementing new strategies, new staff positions, new platforms and new ways of reaching out to our audience.
It's that fourth point we count most important. What purpose does news hold if we have no one with whom we can engage? If we didn't have you, we wouldn't have news. The Echo is in place to voice the needs and concerns of the student body.We invest our time, not for our sake but for your sake.
It's a vision that makes The Echo of today look something like the search for new, clean energy. We are seeking two things to bridge the gap between the old and the new: sustainability and new ideas. These sound simplistic, yet are surprisingly difficult to realize and implement.
The Echo has sustained itself for 101 years of news publication at Taylor. It's a time-tested entity, one that has contributed to the many traditions that form the history and legacy of our student body.Talk about big shoes to fill.
We'll be the first to admit that our work is cut out for us. We're following those efforts that have kept our news organization alive for more than a century. It's a difficult task, to be sure. But we're certain of one thing. The Echo family of today has more than enough commitment to continue building on the foundation that's already been set.
And that's where new ideas come into line with those ideas that are time-tested and trial approved.
As we hope you've already realized, The Echo isn't just a group of news writers talking about the student body. Rather, we are students, photographers, writers, storytellers, designers, social media users, web surfers and young professionals who want to engage in discussion WITH the student body.In other words, we want to hear what you have to say.
The campus programming you work so hard to plan, the unique traditions you uphold and the stories you each bring to Taylor are what make our job exciting. And this year, we need you to help us create an ongoing discussion with the student body that is not contained to Friday mornings. Help us interact with the student body throughout the week with Tweets, Facebook comments, online article feedback and letters to us, your editors!
We believe that this desire to project the voice of the student body is a value essential to the foundation built by our predecessors. That's why we believe that The Echo 101 is about getting back to the basics while continuing to build our platform. In the midst of our gutsy, new position as a news organization, our goals remain true to the heart of Taylor's student news source, even more than 100 years after it was first founded.You are the voice, we are The Echo.
Let the discussion begin.
