Once upon a time there was a college campus where student-run organizations ceased to exist and student athletes were never recognized for their achievements.
There was never any awareness among students about the different events happening on campus, which resulted in attendance strongly resembling a Northern Kentucky University home game. Soon students bought into the preacher man and his bullhorn because they had no other source to receive information from.
Students had no place to go to in order to vent and have their voices be heard. Each student was looked at as a number instead of as an individual with thoughts and ideas worth being brought to the table. There was no school pride because there was no outlet for the students to come together and share all of their ideas and spotlight their accomplishments.
This is the reality of a university without student media.
You may not realize how essential student media is to your everyday experience on campus. You may not even realize that half of the news you receive regarding Florida Gulf Coast University from outside sources are news stories picked up from Eagle News. You may not even realize that Eagle News has a website — we do by the way, plus we have an app.
People on the Eagle News staff fight for each student on campus every day with each article that is published. They share with the public the different fundraising events your organization is putting on in the future, in hopes of helping you have more people come out in attendance. They write feature articles on the amazing athletes who go to school here and spotlight their talents in hopes of catching the attention of recruiters and broadening the school’s fan base.
They inform you about which places on campus failed their health inspections and they go to bat for you when petty schools such as NKU attempt to tarnish the name of FGCU and its students all over social media.
Yes, there may be articles that cover circumstances that aren’t as light, such as student deaths, but they are never written in poor taste. Articles on student deaths are only published once we have the full story and the families of the deceased have been contacted. In no way does this mean that the Eagle News team isn’t sympathizing with the grievance of the student body. In fact, it’s the far opposite.
Sometimes there will be subjects that won’t be easy to cover, but that shouldn’t detour the student media from getting the news out to the public.
That is what journalism is, and though this may be a college paper, it is far from amateur. We have writers and editors who have been published in papers nationwide.
The Eagle News staff works hard every day to give the student body an accurate look into the lives of all the students here on this campus in a professional manner. They dispel rumors and keep you informed on issues that can and will affect you. To say that the school doesn’t need student media is ignorant and a bold faced lie.
Student media provides the campus with the detailed information on the campaigns each person from the student government is running and highlights their accomplishments. They provide the students with all the information they need in order to make an informed decision when voting for candidates both on and off campus.
A student body that only receives their information by word of mouth is an unintelligent and misinformed student body. That kind of student body is in for a rude awakening upon entering the real world. The student body should take advantage of having a paper on campus that has no hidden agenda.
Eagle News isn’t promoting any candidates for election or feeding you one-sided pieces in order to persuade you into believing the same way we do. Eagle News publishes well-rounded pieces with all sides of a story so you can make up your own opinions on topics and decide where you stand. You won’t be as lucky outside of this campus, where you’ll find advertisements and campaigns disguised as news articles.
To rid this university of student media would be providing a disservice not only to the entire student body, but to the future classes that will be admitted to this university. Instead of looking at the paper as the enemy, start looking at it as a place where you can voice your opinion and make a difference on this campus by raising awareness and promoting your organization’s events.
Without student media, FGCU wouldn’t be the thriving school that it is today. There is so much to brag about on this campus. Why would we not want to commit all of these stories to paper and leave a legacy for the rest of generations to see?
