THEUWMPOST est. 1956
November, 26, 2012
The Student-Run Independent Newspaper
The Last Issue , Volume 57
THE POST IS long live the
DEAD P OS T
At 2:0 0 a.m. on Sunday, as a l l of us at t he U W M Post wa it for t he last batc h of proofs to come out so t hat t he ne x t week ’s issue ca n head to t he pr inter, ma ny of us wonder why we do it. By t hat t ime we’re t i red, hung r y a nd bored. Work ing on homework , t h row ing da r ts (somet imes at t he cei l ing) a nd eat ing wa r med-up, hou rs old Pizz a Shut t le pizz a ca n on ly get us so fa r. Wel l, as ou r spor ts ed itor, Tony At k ins, so eloquent ly sa id a few weekends ago, “ We’re a l l a bunc h of id iots, but we a l l have a role to play in t h is Post fa m i ly.” T h is is ou r last pr int issue. No a mount of moneysav ing or money-generat ing sug gest ions or wel l w ishes cou ld save us f rom t h is fate. However, some people have ta ken t hat to mea n t he Post w i l l no longer e x ist. T hat is simply not t r ue. Just as eac h member of t he Post has a role to play in ou r fa m i ly, t he Post has a role to play on t h is ca mpus. We’re not going a ny where; we’re just c ha nging how we play t hat role.
mat. A f ter a l l, what ’s more conven ient t ha n read ing ever y t h ing on you r laptop or sma r t phone? A nd i f you’re a l ready bored or d isrega rd ing lec t u re, why not use t hat t ime to lea r n about t he un iversit y or c heck out what you r fel low st udents f ind interest ing? We a lso k now t he Post has a number of loya l readers, w it h ma ny going of t hei r way to pick up a n issue ever y week . A l l of us here at t he Post t ha n k you for t h is loya lt y, as wel l as you r k ind words, encou ragement a nd sug gest ions. We hope you w i l l cont inue to fol low us on l ine as we ma ke t h is t ra nsit ion. May be you wou ld even l ike to help us. Ne x t semester, t he Post is going to need more t ha n ou r c u r rent sta f f to ma ke t h is work . W het her you’re a jou r na l ism st udent look ing to repor t a nd w r ite, someone interested in pla nn ing events or developing a ma rket ing st rateg y, a computer-sav v y st udent t hat ca n help develop a website, or just have a n opin ion you wou ld l ike to sha re t h rough you r ow n blog, t he Post wou ld be a good f it for you.
Come t h is spr ing semester, t he Post w i l l be a l l on l ine a nd it w i l l look a l it t le d i fferent. W h i le it ’s st i l l a l it t le con f using r ight now, a nd w i l l No mat ter how f r ust rat ing ta ke a lot of work , it w i l l be it is to cha nge ou r way s a ft he sta r t of somet h ing big ter pr int ing a paper t he sa me a nd e xc it ing. way for so long, no mat ter how ma ny t imes we quest ion ou r decisions, no mat ter ou r d i f ferences in opin ion, one We k now some of ou r pr int t h ing w i l l st i l l rema in t he readers t u r n to t he Post be- sa me. We a re st i l l a fa mi ly of cause it ’s conven ient. Some id iots. A fa mi ly t hat wou ld st udents m ight pick it up do a ny t h ing to help its fel low wh i le t hey ’re ha ng ing out members, whet her persona l ly in t he Un ion, t r y ing to k i l l or professiona l ly. A fa mi ly t ime bet ween c lasses. Ot hers t hat is ded icated to ma k ing might use it to keep t hem su re st udents get t he in forawa ke du r ing a bor ing lec- mat ion t hey wa nt a nd need, t u re. Even i f you a re just a as wel l as t he oppor t un it y to casua l reader, we hope you have t hei r ow n voices hea rd. found t he Post in for mat ive A fa m i ly t hat is t ha n k f u l for a nd enter ta in ing. We a lso a l l of t he readers t hat ma ke hope t hat, even i f t he pa- us feel l ike we’re doing someper won’t be phy sica l ly t here, t h ing wor t hwh i le not on ly you’ l l consider head ing on- for ou rselves, but for U W M. l ine to c heck out t he new for-
Our future is bright. When we came to you six weeks ago was asked not only for your support, but for your attention. We didn't know where we were headed, but we knew the only way for us to emerge from this transition as a stronger organization depended on us being transparent with our process and open to ideas for growth and change. In the wake of our editorial we received an influx of feedback, and although we didn't agree with all of it, we asked for it earnestly, and took it all to heart. The last weeks have been full of tireless work from every member of our lean staff as we made the final arrangements to put the printed Post to bed and take the first steps in a major paradigm shift. We will be the first to admit, we are relieved to be on to the next phase. It is weary working in the present when your thoughts drift to the future. So you can imagine great exhortative sigh coming from our office at the thought of finally dedicating all our energies to the great "what's next." Things here have never been better.
know when we lost them. When we made the decision to pull the plug on the Post, our pullback rate was over 50%. More than half of the papers we printed we recycled without anyone ever even touching them. Shame on us for letting it get so bad. That ends here. Despite the mistakes we've made, we hold our history at the Post in the highest regard. We still got a lot of things right. We cultivated a staff of talented, dedicated people with a diverse set of skills. We learned what works and what doesn't and we are prepared to take the next step forward. We asked you to consider the value of our news, and many of you voiced support for a segregated fee to subsidize our operations. We weighed that choice in the balance a long time, but we're proud to say we will not be accepting any student fees now or for the foreseeable future. Not only can we do our jobs better, we can do them without inflated salaries or stipends. There are no more paid positions at the Post. We do this because we love it, and we can't think of anything more important than that.
We offer a heartfelt thanks to the people who challenged us. Our words in that first plea for Our best ideas came to light in help were strong: "The news- the arguments and dialogues paper industry is dying"; "We that stemmed from your crineed your help"; "Our situation tique. We ask that you not let up, is dire." We stand by all of those and work to keep us honest and thoughts today, but we want open as we push the boundaries to clear a few things up about of journalism and new media. what we meant. We at the Post have never been, and will never In the special section that be, defeatists. The gravity of our follows, you will find the bluetone and the authority of our prints for where that first step voice reflected the exact real- forward is taking us. We have ity of our situation. Funds did seen the first glimmering light dry up, and neither benefac- on the digital horizon, learned tors nor manna from heaven ap- from what others are doing and peared to save the day. Not that are applying it here in a way no we expected either, or would one has done before. We are exhave changed course had they panding our scope while elimiappeared. We had been woken nating the excess. from the stupor of print journalists everywhere. We have been the voice of students at UWM for 56 years, and, The truth is, our audience was if you're willing, we expect to be no longer there. The community here 56 years from now. We've we served had moved on with- got a strong direction and we're out us, and to be honest, it had a little crazy and we're not afraid been so long since we had both- to fail. Things are looking good ered to check that we don't even and the future is bright.
The POST reveals its secrets inside