This letter represents the view of Ella Klein, editor-in-chief, not the Old Gold & Black.
Our campus newspaper is an important institution.
Unfortunately, print media is a dying art — more and more local papers have closed their doors, leaving huge gaps in communities all over the country. Newspapers exist primarily as an arm of democracy: a way to moderate power, inform communities and give a voice to critical issues. Now, as it becomes increasingly hard to stay open, many surviving news outlets have put their content behind a paywall. Monetary earnings become an increasingly large factor.
Journalists are underpaid. That’s a given of going into the industry: low wages and long hours. It’s what your professors and parents warn you about. It’s what leads to the incredible rate of burnout among journalists. But the work is important. That’s what keeps us going.
As a university newspaper, we have the privilege to not worry about money. In all transparency, our executive board and editorial committee get a small stipend per semester — but I can confidently say that even without that, we would all keep writing. This is not a privilege we will have for the rest of our lives.
It’s also a privilege to be one of the few remaining hyper-local news sites without a paywall. Now, more than ever, our content is being read by those outside of our community. With our newly minted City & State section, as well as our expansion of local content coverage, we are trying to uphold the values not just of a college newspaper, but include some aspects of a city-wide one.
While outlets transition to being fully online, we keep our 20-page, bi-weekly, full color print paper at the heart of our organization — even if people only pick it up for the crossword.
This is not to say that we don’t support the newspapers in our community: in an ideal world, we would have endless coverage of our bustling city. However, we are advocating for more writers.
We urge every student reading this to consider writing for the Old Gold & Black — not just for our benefit. As students, you are in the unique position to make your voice heard and learn about your community, on and off campus. You can fill the gaps that have been left behind by newspaper closures. You can explore the in-depth topics many print media outlets don’t have the bandwidth to cover.
We promise to continue covering the campus (and some of Winston-Salem) like the magnolias.
