Student Papers Need to be Online

Since I have been a student at the University of Ottawa, The Fulcrum – the university’s English language newspaper – has been the place that I turn to get the latest news about what is happening on campus.

While working full-time and not being on campus often, being able to read The Fulcrum online provides easy access and keeps me connected with what is going on at the school. During the latest SFUO election, the newspaper’s website provided invaluable access to information about the candidates, issues, and ongoing scandals.

However easier access is only one part of what makes having the paper online essential. The bigger thing that The Fulcrum’s website provides is an area for students to discuss, debate, and add to the stories that the paper publishes. University is all about critical thinking and reasoning, developing arguments and theories, and learning and sharing new information. A printed newspaper is a one way broadcast from the writers to students (though The Fulcrum does publish letters to the editor from students). The website allows for immediate discussion and debate of the issues, giving students an open forum to learn from (or attack..) each other.

A great example of this discussion is a story that was recently published in The Fulcrum’s summer issue, on the topic of the SFUO’s funding of a bus for students to travel to Toronto to take part in the G20 protests. This story is obviously a controversial topic, considering what ended up taking place in Toronto – the vandalism of my home town. The comments section on this article is on fire, with students taking to either side of the issue, debating back and forth. I read through the comments, and there are some great points from both sides, opening my eyes up to both sides of the debate.

I think delivering the news and providing this discussion forum to students is important, and I hope to be able to make a positive contribution to this when I start in August as the Webmaster of The Fulcrum.