When readers open up a weekly print issue of The Chronicle, pull up our website, visit our newsroom or check our social media, they may notice quite a bit of change. That’s because the organization has made some changes to improve its coverage of the city and campus and increase opportunities for its student employees.

Beginning in summer 2018, The Chronicle’s management team rebranded the organization to look and operate differently to adapt to changes at the college and in the journalism industry. Our print edition has exciting new design elements, including an updated logo and new colors and fonts to separate the sections of coverage.

The Metro section is specializing its city coverage to connect more with the college community. Our Campus section will connect more with the campus by continuing its coverage and increasing communication with students, professors and administrators. We now have exclusive social media and web content, emphasizing our new daily coverage.

Our multimedia reporters are working to tell stories with visual elements, including interactive graphics, long-form documentaries and photo or video packages to accompany published articles. This expands our multimedia coverage from previous years while allowing the multimedia desk to collaborate with their fellow staff reporters.

The Chronicle is also part of a partnership with the Frequency TV and WCRX networks to establish a “media hub” for the campus community. Together, students from all organizations can utilize each other’s resources and collaborate on projects for each platform, including weekly radio shows, podcasts and broadcast content.

Additionally, staff reporters have the benefit of diversifying their portfolio work with an open pitching system. No longer does The Chronicle limit reporters for Campus, Metro and Arts & Culture. Staff reporters can now produce work for all reporting sections each week, allowing them to improve their writing and reporting skills to prepare them for their post-graduation careers.

The Chronicle has also begun to offer 10-hour positions in addition to our 20-hour positions. These new positions provide employment opportunities for students with busier schedules who may have other jobs, part-time internships or heavier course loads, but still want to build their portfolio during the week with Chronicle assignments.

New staff positions have also been created, as can be seen on The Chronicle’s masthead, such as News Editor, who is responsible for coaching reporters, editing content and tackling larger stories; Brand Manager, who will run social media platforms and ensure The Chronicle has an established and unique presence to stand out from other publications; and Multimedia Editor, who edits and finalizes all video content to ensure consistency and quality.

The Chronicle is at the height of its success, and the changes made are proof that excellence is our top priority for our staff and audience. As we near our 45th anniversary, we know this is still only the beginning.

Our staff is committed to setting the bar high for journalistic merit and keeping it there. Our success does not stop when an award is won or a milestone is reached. Those accomplishments are a reward for hard work and a reminder that the hard work must continue.

These changes, while challenging at first, are here to push The Chronicle above and beyond what has already been achieved. As a 2018 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker finalist—on top of the already heaping amount of awards won over the years— it is The Chronicle’s responsibility to continue to set the standards for what an award-winning student publication should be.