Why so many college Web sites are lame
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In a recent Huffington Post piece, Florida Atlantic University newspaper adviser Michael Koretzky slams college newspaper Web sites, calling them "so damn boring" and the content mere "shovelware" poured into templates.
That's odd news to this former newspaper hack, who has read countless industry journal articles about how the kids are running reporters ragged in cyberspace.
Koretzky gives several reasons, but essentially it boils down to this:
Online media sources are so common, they carry no prestige. So college journalists save their best efforts for newspapers, which seem scarcer and cooler.
As he puts it:
Everyone has a Facebook page. But not everyone has a newspaper page.
Then again, maybe they're just the newest generation of the cranky, old-fashioned reporters -- old before their time.
In any case, see for yourself. Here's a list of links to some Minnesota college newspapers and their Web sites.
Bemidji State University, Northern Student
Concordia College, The Concordian
Gustavus Adolphus College, Gustavian Weekly
Hamline University, Oracle
Macalester College, The Mac Weekly
Metropolitan State University, The Metropolitan
Minnesota State University, Mankato, The Reporter
Minnesota State University, Moorhead, The Advocate
St. Cloud State University, University Chronicle
St. John's University, The Record
Southwest State University, The Spur
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minnesota Daily
University of St. Thomas, TommieMedia
(Note: I couldn't get The University Register from the University of Minnesota, Morris, to load. Also, the St. Thomas paper no longer exists in the paper form known as the Aquin. It is now purely online. If anyone knows of other list changes that need to be made, please let me know.)