Breaking from news

The first newspaper following a break from classes always creates a problem -- the news doesn't stop when we leave Bloomington. So as a staff, we always have a dilemma about where certain news needs to be placed on a page and how to write the stories differently.\nAs a staff, putting out a paper during Thanksgiving break would be extremely hard. Much of the problem lies in the fact that, much like most of the student body, our staff sometimes leaves for home even before classes end. Most of the staff, if not all, goes home to their families, leaving nobody here to cover news happening in Bloomington. After all, we're students and we want to take a break from campus too. And because most of the campus is gone, it would be extremely costly for us to put out a paper that would be barely read. Advertisers aren't willing to shell out bucks for papers that don't make it into students' hands.\nThe number one issue we face is whether or not we should assume our readers have already heard the news from Bloomington during break. Should we print stories that are a week old, but many IU students might not know about it? Do we spin the stories forward -- providing new angles for old stories -- or simply recap the news for our readers?\nAt the Indiana Daily Student, we try to do a mix of both. That's why we incorporate "While you were gone" sections that offer small briefs to update you about what happened in town when you were away. \nEspecially on the front page, we try to mix recent news with important news that happened during the prior week. \nWhen the Bloomington Black Faculty and Staff Council issued a statement of support for IU President Adam Herbert, we had already printed our last paper before break. We did the best we could by putting the story online, so readers who were interested in keeping up on news could check the Web site. Our site allows us to update or add stories from anywhere and although none of us are "on call" to update the Web site, anyone who is set up with privileges can add breaking news stories to the site.\nBut on the Monday after break, we had a tough decision in deciding how much of the story to repeat, and how big of a story it should be considering it had happened so long ago. We decided as a staff that because we had agreed the faculty criticism of Herbert was a big deal, we wanted to give the same weight to an article that supported the president, despite the timeliness of the story.\nWe do, however, plan untimely stories for that paper which can be done in advance. We know many staff members will be returning back to campus late Sunday, so we try to prepare as many stories as possible before we even leave for break. \nBut that doesn't mean the first paper back is all fluff. Although we take a break from the news, the news never takes a break from us.