Starting this week, look for your print Daily Mississippian four mornings a week instead of five. We will publish a print edition on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays.
But don’t worry. If news breaks on Mondays, you can still find it on our website, theDMonline.com, and on our Facebook page, Twitter accounts, Instagram and Snapchat. We still will have a full group of editorial students covering events for the website and social media each day.
Why are we doing this? For two reasons:
First, we are student media. Our editors, writers, designers, photographers, illustrators and social media coordinators are full-time students. We want to spend more time delivering news and content in the modern ways you want to receive it. In recent years, our digital coverage of breaking news has won awards and praise from all over the nation. We want to build on our digital footprint, and we want you to follow along while we do it. We want time to do more podcasts, more videos, more watchdog content, more in-depth design, more multimedia interactive features. Having one weekday without that daily 1 a.m. print publication deadline will help.
Second, scaling back daily print production will reduce printing and distribution costs, which will enable us to use our revenue in more productive ways to meet our mission. It’s no secret advertising revenue has been declining nationwide for many years, for college newspapers and professional media. It’s no secret media employers seek students with multimedia skills. If we want to beef up our new media content, we have to figure out ways to pay for it without reducing opportunities for students who want to work at the Student Media Center.
The University of Mississippi has had a campus newspaper for more than 100 years, since 1911. We have a thriving news operation, and we intend to keep it that way. We will continue to provide you with content you won’t get anywhere else.
So, here’s our wish: If you’re in Oxford, pick up and read a copy of the award-winning Daily Mississippian four days a week. If you’re in Oxford or anywhere else in the world, spend time seven days a week reading The Daily Mississippian on our award-winning website or on your smartphone or whatever you use to keep informed. Our website isn’t just a rehash of the print DM. Each day, the website has original content that isn’t in the print paper. And keep looking to us for the best print and digital advertising from campus, local, regional and state companies and organizations. We promise The Daily Mississippian will be worth your time.
Along with our colleagues at the Student Media Center – who publish the yearbook, produce a daily TV newscast and broadcast news and music on our radio station – we are totally committed to our Student Media Center mission: We provide an educational learning environment, work experience and leadership opportunities for students interested in careers in the media (more than 150 students work at the SMC each semester); serve the university and local communities by providing editorial and business information and services; and offer a forum for the exchange of ideas.
We’re excited to try new things and take The DM to new levels. We want our readers to be a part of that. We’ll open our newsroom doors to the community for an open house later this semester from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13. Come in, see the behind-the-scenes of how the newspaper is created each night and mingle with editors.
We’re YOUR newspaper. Help us fulfill our mission.
Lana Ferguson, Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief
Patricia Thompson, Assistant Dean/Student Media
News, articles, and other exclusive content is available online at theDMonline.com, on Facebook, Twitter (@thedm_news, @thedm_sports, @dm_lifestyles and @thedm_visuals), Instagram (@thedailymississippian) and Snapchat (thedm_news). You can also download The DM Mobile app in the App Store.
