OMBUDSMAN: When college papers go global
by Maura Farrelly
Ombudsman | 3/20/07
Posted online at 10:53 PM EST on 3/19/07
/ Last updated at 1:58 AM EST on 3/19/07
I would like to take an opportunity this week to re-emphasize a point that I have made in this column before-and that anyone who knows anything at all about the direction the news industry has been taking will undoubtedly echo: The Internet has altered, changed, re-formed and modified, expanded, increased, enlarged and multiplied the audiences served by newspapers throughout the world.
It is now possible for anyone with a computer and a phone line to read thousands-even hundreds of thousands-of newspapers that just 10 years ago were inaccessible (or at the very least inaccessible in a timely manner) to anyone living outside the immediate community the newspapers served. I can sit in my living room today (i.e. March 17) and read the St. Patrick's Day edition of the Irish Times, a Dublin-based newspaper that my immigrant grandmother used to receive in the Bronx about two-and-a-half weeks out of date. I can hop on www.spiegel.de and learn that officials in the German city of Bad Doberan are chagrined by the discovery that their town, which will be hosting the G8 Summit later this year, still lists Adolph Hitler as one of its honorary citizens.
I can register for free online access to the New York area sectarian newspaper, The Jewish Week, and read all about the negative reaction to President Jimmy Carter's recent visit that some prominent Brandeis donors apparently had, and about the international controversy sparked by University president Jehuda Reinharz's remarks at a faculty meeting last month, where exactly two reporters-both of them student journalists for the Justice-were in the audience.
I cannot say it strongly enough, people: The Internet has made college newspapers a force to be reckoned with. Until faculty, administrators and students alike recognize this fact, misunderstandings like the one that prompted Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes to encourage donors to "reconsider" their support of Brandeis will continue. The Justice is more than simply a "college newspaper." It is a publication that is read by thousands of interested people who are unaffiliated with the University-some of whom actually report for news organizations such as The Boston Globe and U.S. News and World Report, both of which drew upon the Justice's coverage when reporting on President Carter's visit and its aftermath.
It is now possible for anyone with a computer and a phone line to read thousands-even hundreds of thousands-of newspapers that just 10 years ago were inaccessible (or at the very least inaccessible in a timely manner) to anyone living outside the immediate community the newspapers served. I can sit in my living room today (i.e. March 17) and read the St. Patrick's Day edition of the Irish Times, a Dublin-based newspaper that my immigrant grandmother used to receive in the Bronx about two-and-a-half weeks out of date. I can hop on www.spiegel.de and learn that officials in the German city of Bad Doberan are chagrined by the discovery that their town, which will be hosting the G8 Summit later this year, still lists Adolph Hitler as one of its honorary citizens.
I can register for free online access to the New York area sectarian newspaper, The Jewish Week, and read all about the negative reaction to President Jimmy Carter's recent visit that some prominent Brandeis donors apparently had, and about the international controversy sparked by University president Jehuda Reinharz's remarks at a faculty meeting last month, where exactly two reporters-both of them student journalists for the Justice-were in the audience.
I cannot say it strongly enough, people: The Internet has made college newspapers a force to be reckoned with. Until faculty, administrators and students alike recognize this fact, misunderstandings like the one that prompted Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes to encourage donors to "reconsider" their support of Brandeis will continue. The Justice is more than simply a "college newspaper." It is a publication that is read by thousands of interested people who are unaffiliated with the University-some of whom actually report for news organizations such as The Boston Globe and U.S. News and World Report, both of which drew upon the Justice's coverage when reporting on President Carter's visit and its aftermath.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
James Sanders
posted 3/20/07 @ 1:55 PM EST
What's her point? I don't understand why the ombudsman doesn't actually "investigate and attempts to resolve complaints and problems" the readers have. (Continued…)
Post a Comment