We have gone way out on a limb this year in several areas in hopes of providing cutting edge and relevant material to the student body that you all look forward to reading. While these changes may not appeal to all readers, it appears that the overwhelming majority of you love what we are doing.
I’m not much of a numbers guy, but being a sports junkie, I can appreciate some good stats. Some of the most compelling stats I’ve seen related to our paper, prove that more of you are reading our publication than ever before. Over the summer months (June, July and August), we have increased our online readership by 20 percent this year over that same period last year. This September was an even more dramatic jump, with our website seeing a ginormous 50 percent rise in readership from 2011-2012. And for our old school readers that prefer to hold an actual paper, we have put 40 percent more in your hands.
We have shoved our way into first place in the state for public universities as well. Of all readers of student papers in the state, we grab a 35 percent share. Second place goes to Utah State with 31.43 percent followed distantly by the University of Utah at 20.81 percent and Southern Utah University with 12.75 percent.
We have made a conscious effort to focus on stories that relate to us as students, but that hasn’t always meant covering on campus activities. Although I may love sports, nothing creates more intense passion for me than politics, so this year couldn’t have come at a better time for me personally to be involved with the Review. I have a gut feeling that many of you feel these issues are hitting very close to home as much as I am.
This election season is going to be a fun ride, no matter which way it turns. With a candidate that has ties to Utah and especially in this valley, we have tried to give you the coverage of this election you are looking for. And we haven’t waited to put out just one issue close to the election to do it. I have been following these two candidates very closely for nearly two years, and if you are like me, you want coverage you can relate to while being informed along the way to help you make an educated vote come November.
If I’m not mistaken, that is what independent and unbiased reporting should do.
We have also taken a very different direction with our design. We were a little unsure how it would be received, but ever since USA Today changed their design (which looks very similar), most doubters have come on board. If you are interested in what USA Today thinks is coming for the newspaper industry, I highly recommend you read their September 14, 2012 issue, especially their special section entitled USA Tomorrow.
We are so thankful that you are making us a part of your school year and we earnestly seek your opinion and ask that you contact us and let us know how you think we are doing. We understand that we have a lot of responsibility, mostly to you, our readers and we humbly ask that you help us to make our publication one that others look to emulate. If there is something specifically you feel is detracting to that goal, please email, call, Tweet, text or even stop by our office (SC 206).
Our stats may be skyrocketing this year, and we hope that we have a little bit to do with that, but we all know that this is really your paper. It only will be a success if you read it.
With so many of you participating in our process, only two words come to mind.
Thank you.
Jonathan Boldt
