By Rachel Kimbrough
Student media at the college is finally catching up.
Whereas in previous years, there was this Moses-and-the-Red-Sea-esque division between the Ledger, ECAV radio, and JCAV News, the college’s student-run broadcast news outlet, this year we’re getting in each other’s business in a big way.
For one thing, COM 260 is now overrun with equipment and student journalists of all sorts. This used to be just the Ledger office. Now it houses all three student-run news outlets, as well as a few courses this semester.
Beyond our physical accommodations, the actual purpose of our coming together is convergence. We’re working on a shared website between the three media outlets, so that we can post stories that all three outlets covered in their own way—in an article, in a video, in an audio clip.
That’s not the only way we’ll work with the other media outlets. You’ll be able to catch some of our news briefs on ECAV radio and JCAV news, too.
Point is, we are working together to make information available to our consumers via multiple media. This is the way journalism works now. Individual outlets are not islands. That’s not how people consume media anymore, so we will not continue to push information that way. This way, whatever way you want to get your information, we’ll be able to get it to you that way—in print, on the radio, online, whatever.
For our part, the Ledger will have a brand-spanking-new website up soon. This website will host not only content that appeared in our biweekly publication, but also web-exclusive content every issue, as well as daily content, reader polls, photo galleries and contest opportunities. It’s the same URL as last year: www.campusledger.com. We’ll have a sort of simple, stand-in website until the new-and-improved site goes up. Same URL.
So, be on the lookout for our new website, and in the meantime, give us a wave next time you’re eating or just hanging out in the COM food court—at least one of the many student journalists up here is probably creepily watching you from our second-floor window.
Contact Rachel Kimbrough, editor-in-chief, at rkimbrou@jccc.edu.