Alternative Media Showcase: The Rocky Mountain Collegian
The second part of my series on student newspapers and alternative media is The Rocky Mountain Collegian. This newspaper is a daily publication on the main campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. I was astounded by the illustrious history of The Rocky Mountain Collegian which was established in 1891. The students of Colorado State University changed The Collegian to a daily newspaper in the 1930s due to the challenging nature of the Great Depression. The Fort Collins community was at odds with The Collegian in the 1940s and 1950s due to the paper’s stance on racism and women’s rights.
The Collegian has impressed media observers, journalists and editors alike over the last two decades. The paper has been one of the best student papers since the 1990s with an avid readership beyond the 26,000 students at Colorado State. I enjoyed checking out The Collegian website and finding unique features that are comparable to the best dailies throughout the United States.
The student editors of this newspaper have initiated a podcast called “Tomorrow’s Top Stories� to add an immediacy to their paper’s stories. This podcast allows MP3 users to listen to tomorrow’s headlines before picking up the paper in the morning. The “Our View� section of The Collegian shows the collective wisdom of the editorial board on issues like CSUnity and other campus programs. I enjoyed reading the newspaper’s political blog that was last updated during the Iowa caucuses in January. The video coverage and posts featured on The Collegian blog is innovative in the context of student newspapers. The Easterner as presented yesterday may feature better stories but The Collegian shows the importance of using new technology to appeal to busy students.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
[...] final entry in this week’s showcase of student newspapers is The Daily Mississippian. This publication is the student organ of the University of Mississippi [...]