Opinion

Print editions of colliegiate newspapers are useful — and won’t hurt

A couple of weeks ago, when I delivered our Oct. 6 issue, a faculty member asked me, “Why do we still print the news when we have a website?”

Our paper, The News Argus, is published twice monthly this semester. During the same week that the printed edition is circulated, “a new and improved”online edition of the Argus is posted at www.thenewsargus.com. 

 We use the online edition  to update stories, and add extra stories and pictures. Our online version has just become more interactive. For example, in Campus Crew the readers can now read and listen to the responses. 

 Stories and pictures aren’t 

the only content we publish to print.  

Every week we receive calls from local businesses wanting to print their advertisements in our paper.  

If we were to stop printing and move completely to online, we would lose our local advertising.

 We have staff members who work diligently to make sure that our readers are informed, entertained and involved.

We are in a recession and money is tight.  

But the most important reason we refuse to let go of printing our paper is because of you, the reader.

Although you could sit at your computer reading the Argus for long periods of time, it is much easier to pick up the printed edition.

 Who would want to spend a long time reading news articles as your laptop gets hot and burns your legs?

Print also serves as a window for the community to glance into Winston-Salem State. 

 The News Argus isn’t just delivered on campus. We circulate it to the surrounding community and beyond.

Don’t forget about our homecoming reading audiences. When the alumni return to campus, they are more likely to seek and read  a printed newspaper (or newspapers) rather than go online at www.thenewsargus.com. 

Instead of having your eyes glued to a screen, just sit back and enjoy your lunch, flip to your favorite News Argus section and enjoy  reading the written word on paper, while it lasts.

Your fingers may get a little dirty from the news print, but you won’t have to worry about glowing in the dark from radiation emitted from your computer screen.