In an age when most people are watching television, a newspaper provides something unique.
This week, Student Government brought The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times newspapers to campus for students to pick up for free.
We know this is a goal Allen Richey and Jason Wesley, SG president and vice-president respectively, have been working toward for some time – with the intention of creating an interest for world events.
We see it as our job to promote democracy and civic participation just as much as bringing the community its campus news.
At The Reveille, we would like to commend them and the rest of SG for making an effort to create a more civic-minded and educated campus.
In general, newspapers have more in-depth and thought-provoking coverage that works to engage people in public life.
We often wonder whether students care about what we write about.
By being encouraged to read newspapers, and therefore reading The Reveille, students are taking an active role in informing themselves.
This is not only good for the students, but it is also good for the LSU community. It creates a community aware of local, national and international issues – a community that can participate better in civic discussions.
When SG began offering The Advocate to our campus a few weeks ago, many students asked if we had problems with the added competition.
We actually welcome the chance to be paired with two publications that are world leaders in news and finance.
Like Richey and Wesley, we think this will move the classroom experience outside of the actual classroom.
We hope students pick up all four papers to get all the information they need to be locally, nationally and internationally savvy.
The Reveille will help you learn about the community here at LSU, but you have to stay abreast of the world around you.
We hope you read these other papers because we can’t educate you like they can.
As a campus newspaper staffed with nothing but college-aged students, we do not have the resources to afford you the kind of international and financial coverage that the new publications can.
We are on board with encouraging students to pick up newspapers, learn about the campus, city, state and world around them and become a part of democracy.
We certainly hope you take advantage of this opportunity to read and learn from these other newspapers.
We think college isn’t always about someone else educating you. It is about you taking the initiative to educate yourself.
The University is finally giving back to you – take advantage of it.
Make a point to read these newspapers. It will broaden your experience at LSU and after you graduate.