After a rough summer and late beginning, student media is back and ready for another year here at Pacific Lutheran University. When the new media outlet heads were hired at the end of last year, we honestly had no idea what we were in for.
Cut to the summer and the student leaders of Mast Media, Saxifrage, The Matrix and Lute Air Student Radio are meeting with our various faculty and staff advisers about changes for this year, including pretty big budget cuts and a new class to add to our already hectic schedules.
That isn’t stopping us from making the best of a situation. We’re lucky to have a great, dedicated team of student media leaders who are open to new ideas, working together as a team and the idea of convergence.
That’s why while student media will be producing the same newspaper, news program, radio shows and magazines you know and love, we’ll also be mixing it up a little bit to work closer together with one another and work on PLU’s student media convergence.
So here’s what you can expect from student media this year:
Mast Media will still produce a weekly newspaper, The Mooring Mast, but you’ll now find new section “Lute Life” in the middle of the paper.
“Lute Life” aims to reach all aspects of the PLU campus we don’t usually see, like archives from The Matrix and Saxifrage as well as columns from current LASR disc jockeys and more news from Morken and Rieke, the science-centered buildings on lower campus.
Mast Media is also now part of the Northwest News Connection, a coalition between other private universities in the area including Whitman College, George Fox University, Willamette University and Whitworth University.
Each week, we’ll be featuring a story from each school on our website in order to form a better connection and friendship with colleges in our area while also sharing their stories with the PLU community.
Mast TV has gotten some new upgrades including a new Tricaster, which will improve the quality of our weekly news broadcast, News @ Nine, which will begin sometime in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
We’ll also be airing a new entertainment series, “Dear Emily,” which is written and produced by juniors Camille Adams and Rachel Diebel and will air on Mast TV later in the spring semester.
In addition to “Dear Emily,” other entertainment shows are also in the works, so Mast TV will not only be your source for PLU news, but also a place where you can gather around the TV with your friends and enjoy stories fellow Lutes have created for the small screen.
PLU’s social justice magazine, The Matrix, will be producing a newsletter as well as a magazine at the end of each semester.
Literary magazine Saxifrage will be having more of an online presence this year and will co-host Open Mic nights with LASR and The Matrix where students can showcase their creativity and talent in any form they wish. The first one will be tonight, Sept. 26, with more to follow throughout the semester.
This year, you’ll see a lot more convergence between the various student media outlets on campus. We’re excited to bring the PLU and Parkland community events, news, entertainment and a source of creativity.
One of the reasons why student media is so important on the PLU campus is that it helps create a community. This year you’ll notice a cohesive bond between media outlets on campus.
Stay tuned, Lutes! Student media is coming at you full-force this year.
