The Orbis

If a Vanderbilt student wants to pursue a career in journalism, that student should have clips from The Vanderbilt Hustler. Newspaper employers are looking for aspiring journalists who can write on deadline and write objectively. I freelance at The Tennessean on Saturdays, and it is not uncommon for an editor to assign me two or three events to cover and write about for that Sunday's paper. Because Orbis and the Torch publish only once or twice a month, their staffs do not experience writing on deadline. The Hustler, on the other hand, publishes every other day.

Regarding the content of the two publications, there is very little reporting done by their reporters. In the Dec. 8 issue of Orbis, the front page spread reported that Nashville ranked "18th meanest to homeless." While this story was an excellent idea, the actual article is simply a regurgitation of an online report. The author could have gone out to West End Ave. and interviewed a homeless person, called a homeless agency in Nashville or interviewed a professor on campus who does studies on the homeless. There was no original reporting in the article. The same critique can be made when looking at Torch articles.

I am by no means attempting to argue that the Hustler is perfect. I was responsible for a number of mistakes while I was editor. But take a look at any news story in the Hustler, and you will find original reporting. Opinions should be evidenced with interviews and facts as well, which is a weakness of the Hustler, as well as of Orbis and the Torch.

Perhaps the staffs at Orbis and the Torch do not have any intentions of pursuing a career in journalism. Maybe they are working on these papers because they believe in their mission and they want to stimulate campus discussion. But because one paper is conservative/libertarian and the other paper is liberal, I would argue that these papers are preaching to the choir. I doubt many self-described liberals pick up the Torch, and vice versa. The Hustler prints 6,000 copies three times a week. Torch and Orbis opinions would be exposed to a much larger readership if they were printed in The Hustler, which would in turn increase dialogue on campus. If it's about getting your content read by a large and diverse audience, The Hustler is the way to go.

I applaud the recent decision of Versus and Spoon (the student magazines) to merge, and I think Torch and Orbis staffs would be better served working for the Hustler. I am not saying that there are not talented writers and editors working for the Torch and Orbis – there are. But at a school without a journalism program, student journalists are self taught, and we should all be working together and sharing our knowledge and experiences, not competing against each other for readers. The resources the Hustler has at its disposal would benefit Orbis and Torch writers.

In my mind, the issue of consolidation is not about suppressing students' opinions; the Hustler is always looking for new columnists and pretty much everything submitted is printed. The ultimate goals should be to provide the best possible experience and training for a student journalist and to improve the quality of student media at Vanderbilt.

Article Tools