A lot of my friends from high school study journalism now as well, and I love seeing the work they publish all over my social media. Lately, though, I’ve noticed other things too: posts about their lack of funding.
Student newsrooms across the country are re-affiliating with their university administrations to ensure they can receive funding, and that’s worrisome for us student journalists at NBN to see. To be clear: While we’re an official student group, we receive no financial support from the university. We subsist entirely off advertisements, donations and fundraisers to ensure we’re able to continue the sort of coverage you know and love us for. But we feel for our fellow student journalists, and that’s why today, we support Save Student Newsrooms Day.
What kind of journalism does a financially independent North by Northwestern give you? Glad you asked. Here’s a sampling:
In-depth reporting on campus issues
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve looked into fraternity culture, group contracts and the city around us, among many other stories.
Sports coverage to prepare you for the season ahead
Check out this primer about the ongoing women’s lacrosse season ahead of the final game of the regular season.
Deep and provocative creative writing
Along with some lighter stories, too.
Stories about the things you can’t talk about anywhere else
Writing about personal identities and how they work on campus
We pride ourselves on our reporting about topics like race, gender and mental health, with a specific focus on our university.
Coverage on the fun we have outside class
From the recent “Starry Night” gala to campus concerts to student-produced shows.
Multimedia stories you’ll enjoy reading
We work with photos, video, audio and interactive story forms to make our stories the most interesting reading experience for you.
However, we can’t do any of this without funds to keep up a website and produce a magazine. We always appreciate donations, but we especially would today on Save Student Newsrooms Day, a time to support the student publications you love. You can donate at this site – just choose “Other” as your designation and write in “North by Northwestern.”
Lastly, we also acknowledge that we’re not the only student newsroom at Northwestern. So on Save Student Newsrooms Day, we want to recognize our friends here doing important work too. Take a minute to check out some of the other campus publications and show them some love: The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern News Network, WNUR, STITCH, Spoon University, Blackboard, In Our Nature, Scene + Heard, Al Bayan, Politics & Policy, Northwestern Business Review, Queer Reader, and whoever else we may have missed.
Special thanks to the staff of the Independent Florida Alligator for organizing Save Student Newsrooms Day. And thanks to you for continuing to support the work we do at NBN.