Spotlight on the Communiqué with Alice Crow and Sara Bauknecht
If you’re looking for a reliable, on-campus news source, look no further than the Communiqué, our student-run digital and print newspaper. In our latest Student Organization Spotlight, we chat with Editor-in-Chief of the Communiqué, Alice Crow, Political Science ‘23 and Faculty Advisor and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter, Sara Bauknecht. Read on to learn more about the editorial process behind the Communiqué and to see how you can get involved—
Could you tell us a little bit about the Communiqué and what your goals are on campus?
Communiqué members participate in a Fall 2019 pitch meeting
Alice Crow: We would describe the Communiqué as the student media outlet of Chatham University. We want to inform the Chatham community and give access to information that you wouldn't find anywhere else. We don't really report on national news, we just focus on what matters to a Chatham student or faculty member. Another goal is promoting discourse. We want to do that by giving a voice to community members to discuss things that matter to them. We want to focus on this community. [We also strive to promote] diversity and inclusion, not only with our staff but with who we interview and who we invite to do opinion pieces.
Sara Bauknecht: Maybe you're someone who's new to Chatham or maybe you've been here for a few years and you want to get more involved and find a place where you feel a connection—the Communiqué can be that for you. There are so many ways to get involved. It's not just reporting and writing; there's photography, video, and social media. Last academic year, we launched a business department. We have a business manager who is trying to grow a small team to help her with selling advertising for the website. You don't have to be a communications major or someone who wants to be a journalist to contribute. A lot of the things that we do are transferable skills—you might learn good writing skills, good communication skills, or how to manage a social media account. Another goal of ours has been trying to grow the multi-platform nature of the Communiqué. We recently launched a new website and this has been our first semester consistently publishing content. Diversity and inclusion is still a work in progress for our staff, but we're striving to connect with people with different backgrounds, voices, and perspectives.
What are some articles that stand out to you from the last year?
AC: From this semester specifically, you could take any guest opinion piece that we ran. Everyone on the staff is really proud of being able to curate those voices. Every time I read one, I felt like, this is something this person truly believes, and I wouldn't have known this otherwise. We're very proud of that series and then also, our most recent athletic story on the insensitive comments made by the athletic director. We were really interested in getting to the root of what people were upset about and how the university was responding. [Throughout this semester] people on the staff were very willing to say, ‘I'm going to write about this because I know that people need to know what's happening with temperature screenings, honor code violations, etc.’ I am really impressed by the staff.
SB: This is my third year in this role at Chatham, and in the past, I think some of the strong stories were the ones that either took on tough issues or tried to offer things that people might not find other places. Some students did a story on why there were TVs regularly being discarded behind the library, because that seemed out of place and not good for the environment. A student journalist came up with that and pursued it and it turned out that there wasn't really a good answer. As a result, we saw a camera go up, there was more effort put into trying to investigate that, and I think that's a great example of what student journalists do. We're not only giving students an opportunity to develop skills for the future, but also to fill news gaps. Mainstream media can only cover so much. Student journalists jump in and help to shine light on stories and questions that may have gone unnoticed.
Can you talk a little bit about the editorial process and how each edition comes to exist?
AC: We have pitch meetings every Tuesday over Zoom. That's where we talk about what's going on around campus. The staff will bring ideas that they're really passionate about. From there, we'll talk about how to go about reporting on each story, who to set interviews up with, things like that. A writer will do these interviews and check in with us if they have any questions. Once they're done with their final draft, they'll send it to the section editor. The section editor will look it over and talk with them. If there is anything that still needs to be cleared up, they'll do that and then they will put it in a place where Sarah and I read over it. Once it's edited and seen by us, we'll put it on the website. There is a lot of reading and rereading.
SB: It's important to note that this truly is a student-run media outlet. While I'm here as the advisor to offer suggestions, advice, and professional connections, the editorial decisions begin and end with the students. I do not dictate coverage in any way. The editorial process that we have in place is shaped by what the workflow is like in a professional media outlet, so that if students have an internship or work in media, what they see should look familiar to them based on the experience they had at the Communique.
Since the Communiqué is such an established entity on campus, are there any traditions or protocols that you inherited from previous editors?
AC: The organization of the student newspaper is really old, but I would say that in a way it's only two years old right now. When the last editor, Maggie Susa, took on the role, she built it from the ground up. We might not have very long standing traditions, but the things that were built two years ago are what we're working with now. Maggie did a really great job. We would not be anywhere close to [where we are now] without that work.
SB: When Maggie came into her role two years ago, which is the same time I came into my role, there had been a lot of change. We'd lost a lot of students to graduation. There was a transition of editors and advisors. We were rebirthing the Communiqué in a lot of ways, but now we are trying to keep certain constants so that each time there's a new editor-in-chief, they're not reinventing the wheel. Some of the layout decisions that we made in the past couple of years were informed by looking at past issues. Even though the paper is evolving, there still is that nod to history. Right now, we are working on some rebranding and updates to our website that are informed by the history of the Communiqué. Alice and some of the other student editors have done excellent work looking through the archives about the history of student media at Chatham. There are little nods to that history that will be coming up in future projects.
Can you tell me about each of your responsibilities as editor-in-chief and advisor?
AC: I feel like there are two sides to my job: a technical side and a personal side. Technically, I need to read everything before it gets published. There needs to be an issue of the paper and there needs to be quality to the stories. But there's also this side to it where I feel responsible for fostering a sense of community within the staff, and to find people who go to Chatham that would be good as staff members, people who have the skills and the knowledge to bring something meaningful to other students. When people become part of the staff, they're saying, ‘I want to inform; I want to bring something to the rest of the community by being here’.
SB: First of all, I love my role. It marries two of my loves which are journalism and teaching and to be able to do both in the same job, I feel very fortunate. I describe my approach to advising as if I'm riding in a car, and the student editor is the one who is driving. I will advise based on things I've learned from my career in professional media: keep an eye out for this or maybe there's a shortcut up ahead. I only reach over and grab the wheel if I see them zooming to a wall and that has not happened. It's about helping to nurture and empower, not only the journalists of the future but hopefully journalists who will be thought leaders and change agents in the industry. As much as I love journalism, there are a lot of problems in the industry. That's one of the reasons why I teach in the first place: to help empower others to take on some of those challenges in the future. Even if you never work in a newsroom, the skills you learn at the Communiqué will make you more media literate and [more likely to] critique the things that you consume. You don't have to work in a newsroom to be one of those thought leaders or change agents.
What would you say are the benefits of joining the Communiqué?
AC: I would say the people on the staff are some of the most informed people at Chatham. I also think that it's super rewarding to publish your hard work. It survives, it doesn't go anywhere. You can always look back on your work and be like, this is what I did in college. My last thing would be the people that you meet. Everyone that is on the staff is wonderful. They're great to know. It's just community.
SB: I definitely echo the idea of community. Working in a newsroom is one of the best ways to learn about something. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, it was for work and I learned [the city] so well because I was in a newsroom. It's the same way when you are a student journalist at Chatham, you get to learn the ins and outs of the university. From a practical standpoint, I really strive to bring opportunities to the Communiqué, whether that's workshops with professionals, or even just skills that we talk about in pitch meetings. When you leave the Communiqué, you will be equipped with skills and insights that go hand in hand with the issues and skills that are front and center in professional media.
If a student is on the fence about joining the Communiqué, how would you recommend they learn more about it?
AC: Last year, I didn't know anyone. I didn't know anything about Chatham. I was just going to classes, and then someone said, you should come to a pitch meeting for the paper. I came to one pitch meeting and that day I got my first story. Now I'm here. If you're on the fence about being a part of the Communiqué, rest assured that there is something for you to do. Everyone has a skill that would be good for the paper. Come to one of our pitch meetings. Email us at communique@chatham.edu, and say, ‘Can I have the Zoom link for next Tuesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm?’
SB: The Communiqué is really a create-your-own adventure kind of setup. You don't have to come to every pitch meeting, you don't have to turn out a story every week. If your goal is to write one really solid story for the semester, you can do that. You can set the level of engagement that fits your schedule.
AC: And it's not just stories. We have a social media team, a marketing team, and more. Some of the people who are on the staff came to the staff after saying, ‘I see that you don't have this, maybe I could do this?’ We really welcome people who see a gap that should be filled. The term is obviously ending but there are a lot of things that will be coming next semester. Even if you're not interested in becoming part of the staff, we encourage you to read our work or write a letter to us. There are ways to engage beyond becoming a staff member.
Interested in learning more about the Communiqué? Follow them on Twitter and Instagram: @Communique_CU. Check out digital editions of the Communiqué here.
