BOZEMAN — Despite not having a journalism program on campus, Montana State University's student newspaper, The Exponent, has been bringing local stories to students for over 125 years.
"We do weekly editions, and we have four sections: news, sports, culture, and opinion. Each section has about three stories a week, so about 12 stories," says News Editor Evan Hansen.
Established in 1895, The Exponent is run by a team of about 25 students who research and write each story themselves.
"It’s a very solid paper for a school that doesn’t have a journalism program," Hansen says. "We’ve won a couple different awards from the Associated Press and Collegiate Press. So that’s been awesome."
From fish and wildlife to electrical engineering, students from all backgrounds contribute to the paper.
"I think it helps just bring a lot of different views to the paper. And it helps bring people that come from all different sides of campus to say like, ‘Hey what about this issue?'" Hansen says.
As the journalism industry continues to change and evolve, The Exponent is finding ways to stay in the loop and provide what they call honest reporting.
"You know, people — they do get their news from social media. And a lot of times that can be biased in different ways. And as journalists, we follow certain ethics, certain rules, so I think moving towards the future, the best thing we can do is keep following journalistic ethics and try to create a space where we’re telling the true story," Hansen explained.
If you’re interested in learning more about The Exponent and news literacy, visit its website.
