Bemidji State News Reporting S'11: Giving the Northern Student an Evaluation

Students want Improvement to the Newspaper

By Raielle Peterson and Jillian Gandsey

Taking a closer look into the Northern Student over the past years has shown not only improvements, but also how times have tremendously changed. Some of the basic layouts, photographs, advertisements and special features have improved but the paper has struggled to maintain its importance to the students. Editor-in-Chief Elisa Boettcher declared, “We have lost a lot of people wanting to be a part of the newspaper. A lot of people know that print is a dying art.”

“It's hard to say whether it has gotten more or less popular,” said Kim Powel, staff writer. I think when we have a strong story on the front, more people tend to read it,” said Kim Powell, a staff writer from the newspaper. The Northern Student is seemingly a reliable and interesting newspaper. However, it may only attract certain crowds toward all that it has to offer.

Comparing the Northern Student’s current newspaper to one from ten years ago, the changes were definitely noticeable. For the most part, the layout of articles, pictures and advertisements were organized in a similar style. They are also still maintaining features such as the general news, sports, weather, a university calendar and a section where student opinions are heard. All of these are generally the same in our current paper but they are slightly enhanced to fit our generation.

Boettcher was asked about the Northern Student’s special features she stated that last year they tried to do “Pieces of the People” and that was more poetry and literary work. “We struggled with that and I wish we could bring it back,” she said.

When reviewing the older newspapers there were quite a few variations compared to the more recent versions. One obvious difference was that the advertisements took up a greater amount of space a decade ago compared to the current advertisements, which are much smaller but they also use the space given to them more efficiently.

Horoscopes and classifieds are two features that seem to have been forgotten by the Northern Student over the years. Classifieds are still available for student use, but no one seems to be aware that you just need to call in and ask.

Talking to some students in the union shows the paper could use some improvements, mainly in advertising. Most of the information received back was that the majority of students didn’t know much of anything about the newspaper. Powell added, “I was just talking to someone yesterday who had no idea where they could get a newspaper. There are bins all over campus, but apparently no one sees them.”

She also said, “I would like to see better advertisement for the Northern Student itself across campus. Our writing is getting stronger, and our layout is improving. We actually have a pretty strong newspaper but unfortunately it goes unread.”

The Northern Student is another component being affected by the bad economy and a not so generous budget. Besides that, Boettcher said that she would also like to see a little more dedication from the BSU students.