College journalists will see their work on a national forum as The Huffington Post begins its college-focused section on its Web site on February 22. -db
Student Press Law Center
February 19, 2010
By Laura Dobler
NEW YORK, NY — On Monday, college journalists across the country will have a new opportunity for their work to be seen by people outside their typical readership.
The Huffington Post, an online news source, is planning to launch a college-focused section on its Web site Feb. 22. The site will feature articles from universities’ student newspapers.
About 60 college newspapers from across the country signed on to have content available on the new Web site, said Leah Finnegan, the Huffington Post staff member in charge of the college section.
The Huffington Post is an Internet news source that largely aggregates content from other Web sites and blogs. An abridged version of each featured story is available on the Web site with a link to the original news source. The college section will be on the top of the site next to news, entertainment, sports and other “verticals” or Web site tabs.
Finnegan said she will be looking for a diverse mix of interesting, newsworthy and “off-beat” articles.
“So we might have a story on the California protests and a column from the [Cornell Daily Sun] about relationships. We are big about mixing the fun with the serious,” she said. Finnegan will look through the student newspapers every morning and choose the articles to highlight on the Huffington Post.
Drew Singer, the editor-in-chief of the Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh’s student newspaper, said that his staff is looking forward to participating in the Huffington Post college vertical.
“[Its] readers are different from our readers so it is a great opportunity to get our content out there to more people,” Singer said.
The Huffington Post does not include the entire article on its site, so if the reader wants to continue, the link will take him to the original source, Finnegan said.
“It is really effective in bringing people back to the [student paper’s] original site,” Finnegan said.
The Huffington Post requires that the college newspapers’ sites include a widget — a graphic application on a Web site that links to another site or HTML code — that links back to the Huffington Post, Finnegan said.
The college section will have three types of content: articles from college newspapers, blogs of people involved in higher education and articles from embedded reporters on college campuses who will write for the Huffington Post directly about breaking news, Finnegan said.
The Huffington Post had 30 million unique visitors in December 2009 and wants some of that traffic to go back to the college newspapers, Finnegan said.
“A big part of our role is to help our writers become professional journalists and this is an opportunity for them to get more exposure,” Singer said.
Copyright 2010 Student Press Law Center