Staff Writer
A tremendous amount of work goes into producing The Runner here on campus, but what do students think of the school newspaper? After interviewing a variety of different students, I was surprised at some of the opinions, or lack thereof, of the paper.
“I’ve never seen it before. I didn’t even know we had one,” said Yessenia Nunez, a freshman psychology major.
Fellow student Jocelyn Sanchez, a freshman business administration major had a similar opinion. “I’ve never even heard about it.”
The lack of knowledge of the paper by students can perhaps be attributed to the fact that they are both freshmen and new to the campus; however, they are not alone in not having heard of or read the paper.
“I’ve heard of it, but I have never picked it up and read it. I just don’t have time,” said Chris Freeman, a junior business major.
College students are always busy and most use breaks in between classes to catch up on work for other classes. Others use the break to just relax and enjoy their lunch. This down time for students is ideal to pick up the latest issue of the paper, but most do not.
The lack of awareness regarding the paper is partially because some students do not care much about school events or activities, but some of the problem can also be blamed on the deficiencies of The Runner’s staff. Some distribution areas where newspapers are placed weekly are not in central areas or hotspots where there is a good amount of foot traffic; however, this problem is being addressed.
“In order to improve visibility of the newspaper on campus, we are appointing a distribution manager whose job will be to find more prominent areas to place the newspaper,” said Steven Barker, the Opinion Editor for The Runner.
Perhaps a kiosk placed along the sidewalk between the Science I building and DDH would attract more attention to the paper as well and get more students reading.
Despite the lack of awareness by some students, there are many students that appreciate the paper and the work done by The Runner staff.
Brant Beavers, a junior PEAK major, did not have suggestions to improve the paper but said, “I enjoy reading it. It interests me. Whatever I read is enlightening and pertains to students.”
“There are certain things I like about it. There was one about casual sex that I liked, but I have read it several times,” said Jocelyn Sanchez, a junior nursing major.
Publishing pertinent stories that students will enjoy reading is a main goal of The Runner, but not all stories will be enjoyed by everyone, so the stories written must be general enough to lure in a majority audience.
“It’s okay. Color pictures would be best. The writing is good and the articles are interesting enough,” said Jacob Williams, a junior psychology major. “We should have a police beat where campus security updates students with events,” Williams added.
I did not read The Runner until I was a member of the staff, but since I know how much work goes into the production of the newspaper, I will continue to read the publication in the future. I think that controversial articles and topics will interest students and provoke more reading, and they will have more opinions to write to the editors.
Humor is also another way to entice new readers, as making the paper entertaining would certainly catch readers’ attention. Although these opinions are a small sample of what students think, they give a general feel for the way the paper is received on campus.
