Bustling with life, the newsroom of The George Washington Hatchet represents a combination of tradition and innovation in student media.
As one of the oldest newspapers in Washington D.C., second only to The Washington Post, The GW Hatchet has been providing news to students and the neighboring Foggy Bottom community for over 100 years. Editor-in-Chief Colleen Murphy said The GW Hatchet competes with the Post for national stories, and the location of George Washington University allows her staff to report on events, such as the presidential inauguration and Supreme Court decisions, in depth.
“We can provide this coverage, and we do,” Murphy said.
From the Vietnam War to President Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassination to the Navy Yard shootings, The GW Hatchet has kept the campus informed throughout history, Murphy said.
“We can help give focus to the issues that matter on campus,” Murphy said. “We are there for the moments in time that matter to the students on campus.”
The GW Hatchet’s online archives date back to 1997, and the school library offers microfilm of every article prior to that date.
A staff member built the website for the newspaper in the early 2000’s, and the managing editor is responsible for maintaining the site. Murphy said that The GW Hatchet has been running five blogs since the website began, and she updates these pages every day. All additional online content stems from print articles, which Murphy said she typically posts on the website at midnight on Sunday before the print edition hits the stands.
The GW Hatchet prints every Monday and the staff also publishes an online print edition every Thursday. Two years ago, the staff transitioned to a digital Thursday edition, and Murphy said her content garners more readers than the print editions.
“We print 6,500 copies of our Monday paper, and they are distributed at 60 points across campus,” Murphy said. “We have never been able to accurately gauge how many papers get picked up, but our readership is certainly higher online.”
The size of the paper has also decreased over the last five years, and Murphy said The GW Hatchet used to fill more than twenty pages with news, but now the paper runs about eight to ten pages. She cites cost of printing and declining print ad revenue as a cause for the downsizing, but Murphy said she is working on transitioning her staff to “digital-first” mentality.
Growing and maintaining a web staff is difficult for Murphy, she said, because the site requires a high level of digital skills. In an effort to attract more students interested in online media, Murphy said she has organized more recruiting events, and she hopes to have a fully-staffed web team before she graduates in May.
Over 300 students have expressed interest in The GW Hatchet so far this year, Murphy said, but all writers must all fill out an application in order to start contributing. Murphy said the application process is more about getting to know the students and their experience, rather than to select the best writers, but she still requires everyone to complete the application.
“We consider ourselves a teaching paper,” Murphy said. “We let pretty much everyone on.”
On October 10, The GW Hatchet will be hosting its first public panel and networking session for any student in D.C. interested in journalism. The three-hour event will feature eight panelists, including three reporters from The Washington Post, for discussions on political reporting and digital innovation. Murphy said she hopes the event will inspire her staff and those around the District to increase communication skills and incorporate new multimedia ideas into their product.
In terms of web writing and digital management, Murphy said that The GW Hatchet is still learning but has made some changes in the last several years to cater to new student reading habits.
“We don’t have it totally figured out,” Murphy said. “When breaking news happens, we blog it right away, we don’t wait for the print edition.”
The Hatchet frequently blogs about campus news, administration updates and Student Association meetings, and Murphy said her blogs attract just as many readers as traditional articles.
“I don't view blogs as ‘less than’ articles because I know a blog about breaking news or a student death or an important issue will get read just as much,” Murphy said. “Our main traffic comes through Facebook and Twitter, so generally readers don't even know the difference between a blog and an article.”
Most college newspapers around the country have cut back on printing, but Murphy said the new emphasis on digital content would not affect the writing produced by The GW Hatchet.
“It’s a necessary change, but it shouldn’t change content,” Murphy said. “The goals of the paper would not change.”