Not Your Average Newspaper

You can probably picture the typical newsroom: disheveled desks, impatient editors and countless cups of coffee. But college newsrooms are home to a whole different breed of journalism.

While you were fast asleep last night, the South Dakota State University Collegian newsroom was very much awake.

Brandon VanWesten is the editor-in-chief of the college weekly, and estimates his staff arrives around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and doesn't leave until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

VanWesten adds that odd hours aren’t the only challenge his team faces, "They have 40 hour a week at a regular newspaper. We have about half that".

On top of overnight hours and complicated schedules, the Collegian produces a professional paper from a staff of first time journalists.

"Our reporters are all green," VanWesten explains, "and their first stories are always a little rough. Most of them are inexperienced, having just taken the courses the journalism department offers."

However, VanWesten believes the same inexperience that keeps his staff at their desks until the early hours of the morning is also the driving force in meeting that deadline.

"Reporters come here because they want to work hard and improve," VanWesten explains, "they can gain experience and be ready for the stresses of a professional paper."

VanWesten is confident that if his editors can make it through Tuesday after Tuesday of late-night layouts and sloppy copy, they'll be more than prepared for jobs after graduation.