Howard Paper Becomes a Daily

By Ayesha Rascoe
Black College Wire

File photo: Tia Goodson/The Hilltop Hilltop Editor-in-Chief Ruth L. Tisdale, second from left, and Hilltop deputy managing editor Arion Jamerson share a laugh with Franklin Chambers, Howard's vice provost for student affairs, left, and President H. Patrick Swygert in The Hilltop office.

The Hilltop, Howard University's student newspaper, distributed its first daily edition on Feb. 28, a 10-page broadsheet that featured "The Hilltop Goes Daily" as its lead story.

Inside was an editorial and a two-page spread on the paper's history.

The 81-year-old paper, which recently had been published twice weekly, is the first daily at a historically black college. It circulates 5,000 copies.

While some observers believe the move will be beneficial to The Hilltop staff and the Howard community, others question whether the paper will be able to maintain high standards.

"I think [going daily] is a good thing, just as long as they keep up the quality," said Uche Alimole, a junior biology major at Howard.

Shenneth Dove-Morse, a junior public relations major, said she does not doubt that The Hilltop staff has the talent to make going daily a success.

"They have proven they have the potential to produce a paper that is quality on a daily basis; they just have to step it up," Dove-Morse said.

She also said that university students will be able to receive the news on a timelier basis.

Yanick Rice Lamb, an adviser to The Hilltop editorial staff who teaches journalism at Howard, said she was excited when the editor-in-chief, Ruth Tisdale, pitched the idea of going daily to her.

"It was something that had always crossed my mind because recruiters would ask about it," she said.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Lamb said she worked on her university's daily paper and that experience helped her throughout her journalism career. She hopes that The Hilltop staff will also benefit from working on a daily.

"It gives them more opportunity to do what they do in the real world," Lamb said. "They have to be more comprehensive in their news coverage; do more long-range planning and more deadline reporting."

Lamb said she was optimistic about the paper's success because she watched the preparations for going daily, such as planning sessions and workshops.

"Howard has been a leader in producing top journalists and this will strengthen that," Lamb said. "We live in a world of 24-7 news; it does not make sense for us not to go daily."

Lamb said that in addition to providing students with news with greater immediacy, The Hilltop will inspire other HBCU newspapers to publish more frequently.

Garrison Vereen, former copy desk chief for The Famuan at Florida A&M University (FAMU), agrees. "It will serve as a catalyst for other schools to go daily," said Vereen, a senior at FAMU.

Until today, The Famuan was the most frequently published black college newspaper, produced three times a week. As a former staff member at The Famuan, Vereen said he had mixed feelings about The Hilltop going daily.

"Being at another historically black school of journalism, I have two feelings: I am excited that going daily adds more credibility to [black student journalism] programs," Vereen said. "I am a little envious that it's not The Famuan, but overall I think it's a good step."

Vereen said the response to the news of Howard's paper going daily has been positive at his university, but a few concerns have been voiced. "We are concerned because we know it's going to be a huge shock to the system," Vereen said.

Regardless of the outcome of The Hilltop's new venture, Phillip Dixon, chairman of Howard's Journalism Department, is proud that the staff was bold enough to undertake the task.

"When you have great ambition, you have to act on it; if, for whatever reason, it does not blast off this time, we will learn from it and try again later," Dixon said. "The way I see it, there's no lose in it. You can't lose, you've won already."

Ayesha Rascoe is a student at Howard University who is campus editor of The Hilltop.

Posted Feb. 28, 2005