Student newspaper finds new home on campus

A converted bank building across the street from the McEwen building also gives Pendulum staffers easier access to professors in the School of Communications. And the new location helps the Pendulum with its recruiting efforts through increased visibility.

“Student editors need only stroll across the street to have access to the wealth of experience owned by the faculty and staff in McEwen,” said Colin Donohue, advisor to the Pendulum and Elon’s new coordinator of student media. “Because we’re so much closer to McEwen, we can invite faculty members to come to the building and talk to the student editors.”

Location isn’t the only benefit to the new building.

“We also have a new multimedia room in the vault that will allow us to do video and audio projects like podcasting,” said Pendulum editor Brittany Smith. “Eventually, we will be closer to the rest of the campus student media, which will allow us to collaborate with them even more than we already are.”

The move from the cramped office in the back upstairs corner of the Moseley Center brings the newspaper one step closer to another goal: daily online publication. The newspaper has traditionally been published once a week, but in a 21st century media landscape, real-time reporting with a variety of skills is expected of young reporters.

“This is a great development for students because it means they’ll get invaluable experience with deadlines and daily reporting,” Donohue said. “While the paper will still come out weekly on Wednesdays, the Web site, ideally, will be updated with new stories every day of the week.”

“Because of the resources used on this project, the Elon community is expecting a first-rate product,” he said. “I’ve also noticed a lot of head-turning from students who pass the building. They, too, seem to be impressed by the new Pendulum presence. I hope that continues to be true because it’s the students who will make the newspaper great.”