Grace Parks
K-State Collegian Managing Editor Libby Zuck and Editor-in-Chief Meredith McCalmon.
Welcome back, Wildcats! As yet another school year starts, campus is alive with new faces and stories waiting to be told. Whether it’s your first week of classes or you’re finishing up your last few credits before graduation, the Kansas State Collegian serves you first. As an independent and student-run paper, we are committed to providing accurate, timely and unbiased news — But we need your help.
Students make The Collegian special. Our editorial board, composed of 11 students, has an insider perspective of K-State that is unique from other news outlets. A phrase we’ve heard several times during our years with The Collegian is, “Nobody knows students better than students.” This idea serves as the starting point for a year of collaboration. As editor-in-chief and managing editor, we hope to expand The Collegian’s coverage by earning the faith and trust of the K-State/Manhattan community — This is where you come in.
New to the 2025-26 academic year is The Collegian Chatterbox ([email protected]): an email line for readers to submit tips, ask for event coverage, share opinions and make their voice heard. Each week, our editorial staff will review submissions and print them anonymously in a recurring column. Do you need somewhere to express your frustration about K-State Football? Email us. Want to gain publicity for your campus club? Email us. Having friend drama and wanting readers’ opinions? You get the idea. There’s no limit to what you leave in The Chatterbox, we simply want to hear from you.
Our hope with The Chatterbox is that it serves as a bridge between The Collegian and campus organizations we haven’t covered in the past. It is important to us that every corner of Manhattan is being covered and we want to learn more about the university and town we love full-well. However, we can’t begin to tackle this goal unless readers like you want to be featured in The Collegian. This brings us to our next topic: Is print journalism still important?
With the rise of technology, social media and innovative methods of journalism, a student-run newspaper might be an afterthought to those who aren’t in tune with day-to-day news. However, we encourage you to remember what came first. Newspaper/print is, without a doubt, the backbone of modern journalism. How many times did you wake up to a newspaper thrown on your front porch as a kid, or hear about your parents or grandparents being a part of a paper route? Print journalism has served us for centuries, and we won’t let its importance be forgotten anytime soon.
Something that sets print apart from digital media is the strict code of ethics newswriters commit to. As the oldest and most robust form of journalism, the moral and professional standards set for newspapers have been passed down through many generations of journalists. Many rules of ethics that pertain to broadcast/digital journalism were derived from print rules. This commitment to ethical reporting is apparent to anyone who steps foot in The Collegian newsroom, Kedzie Hall 116. Journalists should be trusted, not feared, and no journalism is a crime. We vow to cover your stories thoroughly, accurately and efficiently — It’s just in our nature.