Miriam Camp-1st Story

Miriam Camp
(Cheri Sutherland)
September 9, 2009
University of Georgia Students Get News

University of Georgia students gather news from The Red and Black, campus newspaper, as well as from new media like online newspapers, blogs and Twitter.
When asked how The Red and Black has been able to keep their readership with all the new technology available Carolyn Crist, the student editor, admits that students at the University of Georgia pick up the paper because it is available on their way to class and they are a captive audience. Furthermore, Crist said that students may only get the paper for the crossword puzzle and it is easy to flip through the six to eight pages.
There are about 17,000 papers printed, per day, but the readership is predicted to be slightly higher.
Crist, the 21- year- old editor from Newnan, Ga., said that The Red and Black web site can receive hits from all over the world for various reasons such as study abroad students or when a national news event occurs in Athens, Ga.
During the time of the murder of a UGA employee by a professor the hits for the web site were significantly higher. On a normal day a good story could bring in 1,000 hits for the web site. “In the last two years we have definitely seen an increase to hits online,” she said.
The Twitter account for the Red and Black has 1846 followers. This method of receiving news is quick and easy to receive for instant facts.
Bridget Mailley, a 20-year-old University of Georgia student, does not have a Twitter account and does not think that new technology had harmed the news industry. Big news organizations such as CNN mentioning Twitter seems unprofessional to Mailley.
Mailley is a senior from Athens, Ga., studying international affairs at UGA who admits that she reads the news, “Less than I should.” When she does gather news she turns to online newspapers such as The New York Times or BBC (The British Broadcasting Corporation). She also grabs a free copy of The Red and Black on campus, because it is free and convenient.
In the future Mailley said she would consider paying for a subscription to a paper before she would think about buying an individual paper. When asked about newspapers going out of print in the next 10 years she said that probably most of them would, because the cost for production is exceeding the sales.
Big news stories in the last year were viewed online. Mailley watched the Obama election night online and she heard from a friend that Michael Jackson had died, so she looked up the story online.
Chelsea Jeffords, 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Georgia, said she gathers news daily because her AOL homepage shows news headlines when she gets online.
When asked if Jeffords reads The Red and Black she said she picks it up because it is free and convenient. She said that she would probably not pay for a paper.
Like Mailley, Jeffords heard that Michael Jackson died from a friend, who sent her a text. She watched Obama’s election results on TV.
Jeffords, a telecommunications major from Marietta, Ga., does not have a Twitter account. She said that she does not think new technology has harmed the news industry, because blogs and Twitter cannot bring in revenue like print media.
When asked if she thought newspapers would go out of print in the next 10 years she said, “I’m going to say no, because I hope not.”