Letter from the Editor: The Reveille needs your support

BY JOSH ARCHOTE @JArchote

The Reveille’s ability and freedom to continue providing substantive coverage of the LSU community hinges on our readers’ support. That’s why I’m asking you to donate to our fundraiser this week.

LSU’s award-winning student newspaper has undergone significant changes in the last year. Many of these improvements wouldn’t have been possible without the generous donations to our annual fundraiser.

Last year, money from our fundraiser went toward our newly-renovated newsroom in the basement of Hodges Hall. It sent Reveille editors and reporters to Washington D.C. for a professional development conference. And it helped us incorporate video journalism into our online content.

Looking forward, this year’s donations will be used to continue bringing the Reveille into the 21st century, with better video and audio equipment. And it will continue to send sports and news reporters around the state and country to cover events. It may also help us pay for public records requests, a vital part of our ability to maintain a watchdog role over LSU, and which the university has recently begun charging reporters for.

Reveille reporters are not simply journalists in training – their work is vital for the LSU community, and it can lead to real, substantial change.

At times our coverage has bothered those in positions of power. Indeed, this is nothing new for the 136-year-old newspaper. Editors and reporters here have been fighting for journalistic freedom for close to a century.

It began with The Reveille Seven, who were expelled from the university for critical coverage of

Huey P. Long. And Reveille editors, now including myself, have gone to court to unearth public records the university fights to keep out of the public eye.

Whether it’s a $5 or $500 donation, please donate and help us continue providing critical coverage of the LSU community. You can get Reveille merch with your donation, including two t-shirts, a hat or a Reveille cup.

You can also support us by participating in our giveback day on Monday, April 3, at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers on Highland Road or on West Lee Drive and mentioning The Reveille with your purchase. You can do the same on Wednesday, April 5, at Andy’s Frozen Custard on West Lee Drive.

Josh Archote is the editor-in-chief of the Reveille and a 22-year-old journalism senior from Independence, Louisiana.