Q: Tell me about your experience with the Ball State Daily News overall? What was your time like as the editor-in-chief?
A: So, in 2016, I started my undergrad, and I joined the Daily News right away. I joined the Features section, and then in my sophomore year, I became the features editor. My junior year, I became the managing editor. But at the time, our editor-in-chief (EIC) was going to graduate in December, so I became the interim editor-in-chief that first spring when the Partnership Project was published. Then, that next year, I was EIC for both semesters. And before I became interim editor-in-chief, Allie Kirkman was the editor-in-chief, and so we had a lot of stuff to balance and transition with just having her as EIC for a semester.
Q: When the Partnership paper was introduced, what was your initial reaction to this collaboration with the Muncie schools?
A: The conversations for this type of paper started as soon as House Bill 1315 was introduced. So, this was years in the making. But what I think happened was in 2017, toward the end of that year, when Casey Smith, who’s an adjunct professor here, was the editor-in-chief. All of the editors worked together, but it was really spearheaded by Casey, then Allie, and then me. I’m not sure how you guys approach it, but what we would do is have editorial board meetings. So, we were all very involved. But I think it would be fair to say, as soon as those conversations about the bill started happening, we started talking about what our role as a local newspaper is in all of this. And we could tell really early that it was something that a lot of people had a lot of opinions about. You have the general public really nervous, because Muncie Community Schools is their school. That’s their home school, and you know, whether they believed that it was being mismanaged, they were anxious about that. And they were all very excitable at the same time. Nervous, anxious, wanting to know more. We knew that there was a treasure trove of stories there, too, because nothing is black and white. This was a situation that we knew we couldn’t leave to be black and white. We wanted to get into the schools and take advantage of this partnership in a good way. Local journalism is so important. So we knew that that was going to be a big undertaking, but it was a responsibility, and we knew that we had a chance to really do some good. So yeah, essentially, that was an incredibly historic move that we were excited to cover. We wanted to make sure it was as transparent as possible.
Q: Did you have any experiences with this first paper that meant a lot to you at the time?
A: Well, I kind of just remember all of the little things that we found. Like someone did a story on a history class that was learning history through podcasts. And it was amazing. And also the fact that they have access to this equipment is huge. Not only did they have access to this equipment, you also have Ball State as a resource. So imagine what you could create. There were so many hidden gems in that school, and being able to bring them forward and kind of show people what we’re talking about, it was really an honor. It was really special. And I think that it also was a really big moment for us, just kind of as a paper in general, to better consider what our role in Muncie really was. We play an important role in this community, and I knew that local journalism was really important. But I think that was definitely a time when everybody who was working on it felt like that, and that they could identify the people who they were impacting by it.
Q: Obviously, there are all the good parts about the partnership, but were there any challenges when putting this edition together?
A: I think something that is challenging is just the volume of it. There are so many stories that we wanted to cover, and beyond the editorial board, at least at the time, there weren’t any paid positions. It was the editorial board, and then it was volunteers. And we also had more of the paper to put out and more breaking news that was going on at the time. I don’t think you can ever have enough staff, but just getting those stories off the ground and moving was difficult, especially because a lot of people were concerned because they had to go off campus and didn’t have cars. So yeah, just kind of getting those stories picked up and overcoming those little obstacles. I don’t think it’s fair to say that we received pushback in wanting to do this partnership, but I do think that, at least to a degree, we were perceived as another Ball State entity wanting to get into the schools, and everyone’s guard was already up. And in general, when it comes to journalists, people are either very welcoming or very not. And with student journalism, it’s even more polarizing. So we kind of had to prove ourselves and show that we were genuinely there to help, and that the work we were doing was because we cared about the community and wanted to make an impact.
Q: After the first edition was officially published, what was the feedback like?
A: We could definitely tell that people were receptive to it. We could definitely feel the impact that we were making. And I remember feeling like there were some more lively discussions going on in the comment sections when we would post about what was going on. So, I definitely think it was a win. I think people started coming out of the woodwork to bring stories forward after the first few stories were published. I also feel like, after the paper was published, we were starting to get to a place that was a bit more relaxed. I’m not crediting that to the paper, but I credit it a lot to time. After the paper was published, their time had passed, and the Muncie community had had time to see what this partnership was going to look like. This is truly a partnership now, and I think that we played a part in that by helping pull all of those stories into the light.
Q: Do you believe that this paper achieved what this collaboration had hoped for?
A: I would say that when I was editor-in-chief, I felt like when we put that paper out, that was the most we had covered MCS in a single paper in my time as editor-in-chief. And so it felt like a really meaty paper with a lot of really good and impactful stuff in it. So for me, at that time, it achieved what we set out to do. But like I said, our work really was not done. I was very proud to have it out and to have moved the needle on getting into the community more.
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