About
What We Do
The Knox Student is Knox College’s award-winning student read, student written, student led news organization. But what does that mean exactly? Let’s break it down.
Student read – our readers, our audience, is the Knox College students.
Student written – all our reporters are students, nothing comes from faculty.
Student led – we have no faculty overseer, we are an independent organization that makes our own publishing choices. Our advisor is only there to support when needed.
And we are a news organization, in the past, we might have said newspaper, but TKS is on so much more than paper now. We report the news in a timely, accurate and unbiased manner so that the student body better understands what is happening on campus. We publish event coverage, think pieces, fluff pieces, investigative pieces, everything under the sun that you can think of as journalism? We do that.
Why We Do It
Journalism is about the search for the truth, we might not always find it, but we’re always looking. Knox students deserve a news source grounded in integrity and curiosity, which is what TKS strives to be.
We ask questions, search for answers, write and publish to make sense out of what is happening in the world, and to help our readers make sense of it too.
How We Do it
TKS has a 3 pronged approach to journalism so that writers can learn about different types of writing and practice different skills. All staff members should be familiar with the differences between them and the purposes they serve.
The Web (and newsletter)
The Web, currently at theknoxstudent.org is TKS’s main presence. We publish on the web as often as possible, and all stories written will always end up on the web. This is where we get most of our views and interaction. Writing for the web is one of the first skills you’ll learn. This is classic journalistic style, stories are 500-750 words, about events, people, trends, you name it. The TKS newsletter is simply a collection of all the articles posted to the web in a week. It is sent out on Friday mornings and includes all articles published since the previous Friday.
The Radio
TKS has a weekly radio show on WVKC. The show is on Monday’s and discusses the past week’s articles. Each reporter is responsible for writing and recording the radio version of their own stories by Friday. Writing for the radio is different than writing for the web, it is shorter, more conversational. Practicing writing for the radio makes you better at writing for the web, and gives you experience with a different type of writing. All reporters must record their own stories, regardless of how you feel about the sound of your own voice. Getting used to hearing yourself talk is an important part of being a journalist! You sound great, don’t worry.
The Mag
The TKS Magazine comes out once a term. It is a professionally printed, full color magazine designed by the TKS graphics team. The stories in the Mag are a little different. Writers have about four weeks to work on them, as opposed to just one. These stories should be longer, closer to 1000-2000 words and should involve more in-depth reporting. You should be speaking to more sources, doing more research. Often these stories are about trends, not events, this gives them a timeless quality. All reporters should practice this type of longform journalism, but not everyone will make it into the mag every time.
Get Involved
The Knox Student has open meetings during the academic terms on Mondays at 5:00 pm. They take place in the S.S. McClure Publications Office (AKA The Pub Office) in Seymour Union. The best way to stay informed on meetings is to contact us using the form on the right to ask to be placed on our mailing list.
Any student at Knox College can volunteer to write or take photos for TKS. If you don’t have experience, we’ll give you whatever guidance you need to get started.
If you wish to submit an opinion piece or letter to the editor, you may email the Editor-In-Chief. It is not required to come to our meetings to submit an opinion. We want to make sure that even if you aren’t involved with the paper, you still can make your voice heard on this campus. We do require that submissions be from a member of the Knox community; If from someone outside the Knox community, submissions must still be directly pertinent to Knox College.
