The Snapper is going through many changes this year, and while this week’s issue might look the same as years past, do not expect it to last.

The news industry is changing. There are no longer writers, editors or photographers. In today’s media, there are only journalists. And for far too long, The Snapper has been behind in the industry.

That is all about to change. By the end of this year, The Snapper will be one of the leading college media outlets in Pennsylvania. Below are some of the changes that are planned for this year that will make The Snapper one of the best.

For many years, the paper was published weekly. Back then, this worked pretty well; we reported events from the past week and gave insight into upcoming events. But that is not enough now, our generation does not want to read history, we want to see it reported live. For us, this means crunching our entire week-long publishing cycle into minutes so that when news breaks, we will be there with the facts.

However, in order to better bring you the news, we will be cutting down the amount of issues we publish in print this semester. We will still be bringing you at least ten issues this semester; six of these issues will be online and in print, while four will have all of their content completely online.

This plan brings us better in line with many newspapers that have been shifting more and more efforts to their online editions.

In the coming weeks, we will start to deploy new features, online and off, that will begin a new chapter in the history of this 84th year of publishing.

We will deploy a behind-the-scenes blog to give you insight, and for you to give us feedback. For the first time in… well, forever (as far as my knowledge extends), The Snapper has a real web staff. No longer is it just one person in charge of the website. As we expand our website, many of our writers and editors will become more active with it, and we hope you will too.

We will help new and existing organizations grow by giving them ways to advertise at a more affordable price than our current rates, whether it be advertising an upcoming event or just trying to engage more students to join their organization.

For local businesses, we will be adding more creative and effect ways to advertise to students, including expanded website options that will come to life this October.
We also plan to be a lot more receptive than in the past. If you have comments, suggestions or criticisms, let us have it. You can leave feedback on our website, email myself at (editor@thesnapper.com or stop by our office at SMC Rm. 19.

Want to be a part of The Snapper? You can always join us by submitting an application online or in person at our office. We are looking for great writers, editors, photographers and web staff.

Thank you and have a great semester.

-Joe Moore, Editor-In-Chief