From pitch to publication: The history of the production process

While The Miami Student has always published a physical newspaper for the past 200 years, a lot of the steps within the publication process have undergone changes.

One of the most significant shifts stems from technological development.

“In my era, print was really the form of the paper,” said Bill Schumacher, 1975 editor-in-chief and Miami alumnus. “We didn't have any online. Online is a new channel. A lot of new forms of content delivery [like social media and blogs] and distribution of the paper are new.”

The Miami Student website launched near the end of 2006. With the transition online, The Student has 24-hour news cycle capabilities. In addition to the website, The Student publishes a printed newspaper every other week. However, this is not what the process looked like for JD Malone, former sports editor for The Student and 2006 Miami alumnus.

“Back then, there were two editions [per week],” Malone said. “We didn't really do web publishing at that time.”

But that did not mean they weren’t considering a website.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

“We were never able to make it happen because we didn't have the resources,” Malone said, “But … we could see [that it] was something we had to have in the future.”

Another notable change has been how writers contact their sources.

“[Zoom and Google Meet] would have been fantastic to schedule interviews and to save time from having to run all over campus to track people down,” Malone said. “Just being able to manage your schedule digitally would have been a huge time-saver and probably just would have saved my nerves a little bit.”

Alice Momany, former Campus and Community section editor and 2023 Miami alumna, said she relied on Zoom and other online platforms while publishing the paper during COVID-19.

“At least my freshman year all of my interviews were on Zoom,” Momany said. “It was so weird coming out of COVID-19 being in a collaborative environment with people.”

After the pandemic, Momany said she still relied on technology, but was finally able to connect with sources face-to-face.

“I reached out to a lot of people just via email,” Momany said. “If I had some people’s [phone numbers], especially Oxford residents, I would just text them [and ask], ‘Hey, can we set up a time to chat?’”

The Student also created unique opportunities for staffers to learn from. One of Schumacher’s favorite memories was when he had the opportunity to cover former President Richard Nixon's motorcade in suburban Cleveland during his 1972 reelection campaign.

“I was in the press bus, and I boarded the press plane and was almost ready to go, but I figured, ‘How am I going to get back?’” Schumacher said. “So I kind of walked down the steps and didn’t proceed. But it was great, kind of rubbing elbows with national reporters and columnists to get the flavor of a presidential campaign, I do remember that vividly.”

For Momany, one of her fondest memories is getting to help distribute papers at the end of her first year.

“Everybody cared so much that papers got out to the newsstands,” Momany said. “It was really, truly that sense of community that we are the only ones that care this much, but we're happy to be with other people [who] care that much.”

No matter the experience or how things have changed, TMS alumni take away skills from the newsroom to apply in their professional lives.

“I met so many really good journalists [at The Student]," Malone said. “People who are really smart. People who challenged the way I thought about things and how I saw things. It was really this incredible laboratory of, not just helping you figure yourself out, but figuring out how you fit into a team.”

Momany echoed this sentiment about the relationships she formed during her time at The Student.

“It's nice to have these connections in the industry too, just to fall back on and bounce ideas off of,” Momany said. “The relationships last forever.”

mulforsj@miamioh.edu