The News-Register is back a year after the pandemic hit and Dallas County Community Colleges became Dallas College.
Neither of these things made being a reporter easy, with mergers and the unknown
on whether or not all campus newspapers would become one as well.
Fortunately we all get to keep our own newspaper. However, we are all under the same budget. So, now it feels like it is the survival of the fittest.
Another change in this evolving world of media; to print or to not.
I always told my mother that I grew up in the wrong generation, because I listen to ’70s music, watch older shows and read newspapers.
Times have changed and every where I go someone says, “Print is dead.” But is it really?
Is there no one left out there who enjoys holding the paper in their hands and reading it with their morning coffee?
I, honestly, do not believe that is the case.
Here at the News-Register we work hard every month to produce the best content for our paper that we can.
However, it is not an easy task. We have three weeks to come up with articles, complete interviews, gather photos and then lay everything out in the system.
Press day is the most fun for me, because I love the rush of everyone talking and editing while trying to fact check and page layout.
When you just have an online edition, your staff can just email you their articles and you put it online.
There is no time frame, there is no rush and to me you don’t really get the hands on experience you would if you were going to print.
The physical copy can last forever. When you read an article online do
you really read the entire thing? Do you ever go back and look at it?
I take pride in our paper and how hard my staff works every month.
Sometimes we feel we aren’t noticed but in talking to head soccer coach Adrian Gonzalez, I learned how wrong we were.
He pulled out a huge white binder and showed us every article we ever did on his soccer team.
“They love coming to visit and remembering what all they accomplished. So I pull out this binder and they get so excited,” Gonzalez said.
“The girls love seeing all their hard work recognized in the paper. Sometimes they even sign their photos for me.”
I started to cry when I got back to the office because it made me feel proud in a time
where it feels like everyone else is rooting against us.
During all of these changes we weren’t sure if all the campus newspapers would be combined into one or if we would still have our own.
I am glad we each still have our own, because each paper is different in its own way.
Each campus has its own personality so to speak.
I definitely felt the News-Register is a huge part of North Lakes identity.
The pandemic took so much from us and I don’t want to lose anything else. I hope that it brings more life to the
campus.
The students and faculty need more positivity in their life and not lose another part of something that has been here since the start of North Lake.
I will continue to fight for the paper and print, because it is a huge part of who I am and I know that it is apart of a lot of you as well.
Thank you for the support and I hope that everyone enjoys our first print since the pandemic.
