A drastically changing political atmosphere and an economic system that has been quickly collapsing have shaped the first decade of the 21st century.
The Daily 49er has been affected internally by these unstable economic times, fighting against the ever-shrinking budget. There was a threat in 2007 that it would be strictly online, a daunting possibility many college newspapers face. We are celebrating 15 years on the Web this year, and are proud to be one of the first student newspapers to go online.
We have also expanded into the world of video with our weekly segments of Beach News, a broadcast that was the brainchild of staff member Brian Cuaron. The end of the semester will officially wrap up our first year of the broadcast section.
Other technological advances have taken a hold of the Daily 49er as staff members continue to take on all of the challenges and new outlets technology has granted. Some of these include Facebook, MySpace, message boards, e-mail newsletters, breaking news e-mails, blogging, multimedia and now our most recent undertaking, iTunes U, where individuals can subsribe to PDF and plain text versions of the paper. We are one of the only known publications to make our product available on iTunes.
The paper has also been impacted outwardly by the economic climate. Staff members came to the realization that as the California State University located in Long Beach, where the CSU chancellor’s office is located, it is the most suitable student publication for covering the effects of CSU-wide decisions. Our presentation of CSU budget cuts online has prompted other CSU newspapers to call us for information.
The new millennium has been a time where students on this more-than-often apathetic campus have been slowly joining forces. Back in 2001, the Daily 49er covered the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks on the Cal State Long Beach campus, setting up momentum for student organizations like Campus Progressives and the Center for Peace and Social Justice to protest issues like the war in Iraq. In other movements, the California Faculty Association, women’s rights groups and many more have been fighting budget cuts, the presence of groups like the Minutemen, and demographic discrepancies, such as “The Blackout” led last year by the Africana Studies Student Association.
The bustling elections of 2008 were not a quiet time on campus either; a lot of which can be attributed to voting campaigns spearheaded by then-president of Associated Students Inc. Erin Swetland and others. Students wanted to be involved in the change.
The Daily 49er’s relationship with ASI became strained over the last decade in our coverage of the Blackberry budget for officers, written by Investigative Editor Lauren Williams in 2007. While the story had some inaccuracies, the topic ruffled a few feathers. And then other relations were strained in our coverage and opinions articles on the recent Beach Legacy Referendum and controversies in online voting regulations — another way technology has penetrated news coverage and topics of reporting.
Everyone has heard that print is dying. It isn’t dying; it’s just moving. This is something young journalists must keep in mind. We are still investigators. We are still the watchdogs. We are still messengers. The industry won’t fade, and if we let ourselves think this, it will, or it will de-evolve to sensationalistic reporting.
The changing economy, political climate and advances in technology only give us more opportunities and outlets to seek the truth. Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise because at the end of the day, the necessity for journalism will still be there.