Long Beach State President Jane Close Conoley visited the Forty-Niner Student Media offices on Tuesday morning to chat with the editors and learn about the exciting developments happening at the publications.
Daily Forty-Niner Editor-in-Chief Austin Brumblay talked about the changes that the staff put into place over the summer, which included a transition to weekly print, new print layout, logo, strong emphasis on digital and a brand new website.
“We wanted to make the paper look more newsey. By updating the logo and resizing it to a long tabloid with a fold, you get that newspaper feeling,” Brumblay said. “I love print, but journalism has gone digital. So we have features that are exclusive to the print edition only and are hyper-focusing our stories on students.”
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Editor in Chief of DÍG en Español Alejandro Vazquez also talked about the importance of featuring unique student stories and providing a Spanish language publication that serves the diverse campus community and Long Beach as a whole.
“DÍG en Español’s mission is to raise awareness about the issues affecting Latinos and to shine a light on underrepresented communities,” Vazquez told Conoley.
The upcoming issue of DÍG en Español, on stands October 28, will feature a story about Dia de los Muertos traditions with a specific focus on the El Paso shooting victims, a discussion of the term Latinx and a profile of an Afro-Latina student.
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Big changes are happening at DIG magazine as well. Editor-in-Chief Delaney Tran shared the fall issue that hit stands on Monday with Conoley. A new layout and a focus on inclusivity of contributors from different colleges and majors has grown DIG’s content beyond traditional reporting, to include short stories, poetry, fine art photography, graphic design and more.
“Wow, you guys are doing a lot around here!” Pres. Conoley remarked after hearing from the three editors. Conoley praised the editors for their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the publications and emphasized the importance of giving a voice to the stories of the campus community.
Conoley emphasized that her door is always open in support of student journalism and promised that as she goes about her presidential duties, she would be looking into new ways to support student journalism at CSULB.