EDITORIAL: Student press at UHCL celebrates 40 years of consecutive reporting

There are three deliberately established branches in the government: the legislative makes the laws, the executive enforces the laws and the judicial interprets it. Journalism is often referred to as the fourth estate in the U.S. government referencing the press’ watchdog role, which is important to maintaining a functional democracy.

Prior to July 4, 1776, when the thirteen colonies were ruled by Great Britain, the British government tried to control what Americans were saying and publishing in the media. So, when the Second Continental Congress met, they decided that if they gained independence from Great Britain, they would have a law protecting the freedom of the press. This law is now a part of the first amendment in the Bill of Rights.

It is no secret that decreased ad revenue is negatively impacting the print news medium, and many people worry that newspapers are dying; however, newspapers have a very loud voice in today’s world. Even with, or maybe because of, the whole “fake news” accusations and attacks on the press, journalism school enrollments have shot up.

MarketWatch reports that the journalism graduate program at Columbia University saw its enrollment jump 10 percent just in the 2017-2018 school year. At Northwestern University, Medill’s School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications has seen 24 percent more applications in the 2018-2019 school year.

Here at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), the student-run the newspaper, The Signal, is offered as a capstone course as part of the Communication program curriculum. The Signal is celebrating its 40 years of consecutive reporting milestone, and with National Newspaper Week being Oct. 7-13, it seems like a good time to restate our commitment to the UHCL student body and community.

The Signal is committed to the UHCL student body and the surrounding communities by serving as a student forum to ensure their voices are heard. Our goal is to inform, educate and engage our audience…and to fulfill our responsibility as a fourth estate.

Matt Geigler, executive director of News Publishing Co., said, “Community journalism matters because communities matter.”

At The Signal, not only do we give our readers news about what’s going on around the world, but also we publish stories that are happening in the community. We do this for our campus community as well as for whoever may stumble across our newspaper.

Along with many other journalism mediums within the industry, The Signal has gone through many changes throughout the years. It has gone from print to digital, from publishing bi-monthly to publishing weekly.

Two summers ago we went from not publishing in the summer to publishing year round. We’ve even gone through a name change – does The UHCLIDIAN ring a bell for anyone?

We’ve won hundreds of awards in collegiate competitions, but our biggest reward is fulfilling our role as a student-run newspaper and providing a reliable news outlet for the campus and the surrounding communities.

The Signal is celebrating 40 years of consecutive reporting and this would not be possible if people did not care about newspapers or telling their stories. All of the staff at The Signal want to say a huge thank you to our readers for making these past 40 years possible.

Also published on Medium.