The following opinions reflect that of The Miami Student Editorial Board.
While waiting in line for a coffee at King Café, you see a lopsided stack of newspapers overflowing from a nearby newsstand. As you walk down High Street, you catch a glimpse of a crinkled copy floating down the sidewalk. And there's one neatly folded under a hurried professor's arm. This clockwork process repeats itself every Tuesday and Friday as freshly printed newspapers, swapped out with different stories and new student perspectives, appear all around campus.
This is the routine the Miami community has grown comfortable with. But it's time to evolve. Seeing the newspaper twice a week may have worked for the past two hundred years, however, it's just not enough today. The Editorial Board is not settling for the outdated rituals of traditional print news. We realize news is not something that can be put into a box one or twice a week; it is something you interact with daily, hourly.
As Miami's most prominent news source, we want to not only be available where it's convenient on campus, but also with the click of a button or the swipe of an iPhone. We want to be a publication students rely on for fast and accurate facts. A newspaper that doesn't provide instant coverage of events is not appropriately serving students of today's digital age. If you can order a Chipotle burrito online, you should be able to access the latest campus news within seconds.
We've already put many of these ideas into action. At the beginning of the year, we took an honest look at the role of The Miami Student today and how we can best serve our student body. By ramping up our storytelling techniques and the methods in which we reach our readers, we are taking huge steps to be the best student-publication possible.
The most substantial change is the launch of a brand new website next fall. That's right, say goodbye to the finicky site we currently have and hello to a more efficient, interactive experience.
Our goal is to also beef up our use of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in order to gather news, tell stories and cover live events more effectively. We believe having a more sophisticated online presence will solidify our reputation as a reliable news source and help us transition to a place we know this newspaper should be.
Along with launching a new website and possibly even a corresponding app, The Miami Student is committed to improving our content and diversifying our pool of writers. So with a not-so-subtle plug, we are always welcome new writers, photographers and anyone else who is looking to get involved. We don't want any voice to go unheard or any valuable story to go untold.
As the editorial staff, we've implemented and seen several changes this past year. We've taken on investigative pieces on fake IDs and written longer form articles on issues this student body cares about. When writers, professors and readers can detect a positive change in our organization and leadership - and we believe they have - we know we're on the right track. Already, the content is better, the quality is better and the ideas are better.
Just like the illustrious red bricks that surround us, The Miami Student is a staple on this campus and the print edition is here to stay. But just like the continuous construction that surrounds us, there is always a phase to rebuild. For The Miami Student, this means executing our lofty ideas. From being serious about digital reporting to an updated print image, we have tangible goals for next year. Instead of continuing in the same routine, we want to be a newspaper this entire community is proud to call a part of Miami. And whether that means picking up a paper, pitching a story idea, following us on Twitter or downloading our app, we hope you'll be with us every step.
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