Format Broadsheet/Online Editor-in-chief Corey Williams Campus editor Claire Tully | University Auburn University Managing editors Dakota Sumpter | |
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Type Weekly student newspaper | ||
The Auburn Plainsman is the student-run newspaper for Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. It has notably received awards for excellence from the Associated Collegiate Press and is the second-most decorated student publication in the history of the National Pacemaker competition.
Contents
It is published Thursdays throughout each academic term and freely distributed at more than 75 locations. The editor is selected by a group of faculty, students and professional journalists. In turn, the editor hires a paid staff to run the paper and recruits volunteers. Plainsman staff and volunteers create all of the paper's content without the use of a wire service. The business manager, also a student, is selected by a group similar to the one that selects the editor. The business manager hires advertisement salespeople and designers.
The Plainsman is a self-supported publication and receives no student or state taxpayer money. Though located on campus, it pays rent to Auburn University. A typical page count for each modern issue is 20 pages and includes four sections: Campus, Community, Intrigue and Sports.
History
Founded by the school's two literary societies, Wirts and Websterians, students began publishing a newspaper for the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama in 1893. The students called it the Orange and Blue after the colors worn by the football team formed a year earlier.
The paper began as twice monthly publication. Through its early years, the paper was small. It resembled other newspapers of the day. The first major change in the paper's traditional production came in 1922, when the name went from the Orange and Blue to The Auburn Plainsman. Name changes since then were minor, as editors have dropped and picked up the word "Auburn," but the word became a permanent fixture in the title in 1961-62, a year after the Alabama Legislature changed the school's name for the final time, from Alabama Polytechnic Institute to Auburn University.
Aside from the paper's name change, the frequency of publication has shifted. It went from one edition per week to two editions per week in the fall of 1928. The Plainsman returned to a weekly publication schedule some time in the late 1940s, and is now the largest weekly newspaper in Alabama.
The first female editor was Martha Rand, in 1944. She was followed by Mimi Simms. Since Rand and Simms, only 10 women have served as editor.
The paper launched its online presence in early 1997 with only selected articles placed on a university-based website. In fall 1997, the first Online Editor, Karl Sebelius, moved the paper to its current online home at theplainsman.com. The online edition has received one Online Pacemaker in 2003-2004.
The 2000-01 editor, Rachel Davis, lobbied the Board of Communications (Comm Board), a university committee charged with overseeing student media, such as The Plainsman as well as WEGL, for a change in how Plainsman editors were chosen. The honorable and long-standing tradition of election by the student body was abandoned. Now, Comm Board and its special Advisory Board select the editor, who takes a series of tests before interviewing for the job.
In recent years, Plainsman stories have been picked up by almost every national major media outlet, including stories covering a triple homicide at an off-campus apartment complex, the confession of Toomer's Tree poisoner Harvey Updyke and the theft of more than 1,000 copies of The Plainsman by Auburn SGA members. These stories were picked up by organizations such as the AP, ESPN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, and more.
The Auburn Plainsman is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.
Awards
One of collegiate journalism's highest prizes are the National Pacemaker Awards, handed out since 1928 by the Associated Collegiate Press. The Auburn Plainsman is the most decorated student publication in the competition.