Student Media
About Student Media
At Texas Tech University, the Department of Student Media produces the student newspaper, The Daily Toreador; the campus yearbook, La Ventana; and a Web site devoted to new media, dailytoreador.com. All publications, productions and telecasts within the department are non-academic and considered student activities.
The department has no formal connection with the College of Mass Communications, but many Student Media students are enrolled in mass communication classes. The Department of Student Media provides opportunities for these students to use the academic training obtained in the College of Mass Communications in practical settings to create a daily newspaper, a yearbook and a multimedia Web site.
Operating philosophy
Texas Tech University recognizes and affirms the editorial independence and press freedom of all student-edited campus media. Student editors/managers have the authority to make all content decisions; consequently, they bear the responsibility for the decisions they make.
Texas Tech University believes an independent, robust student press is a basic right in a free and democratic society and necessary for a full and vigorous freedom of expression as well as proper growth and development of students as socially responsible journalists and individuals. It also believes such a student press serves the campus community best. Student journalists/telecasters should pursue their vitally important tasks within an environment conducive to growth and development and, to that end, the university has assigned responsibility for creating such an environment to the Department of Student Media through the Student Media Committee.
Within this context, the Student Media Committee and the Department of Student Media develop policies and programs to assure adequate financial support for The Daily Toreador, La Ventana and dailytoreador.com to relieve student editors of many non-editorial/non-production business matters; to provide student editors readily available, competent advice and counsel concerning their ethical and legal responsibilities and other professional matters; and to promote on campus an understanding and continuing commitment to student freedom of the press.
Organization
The Department of Student Media, under the Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management, is advised by the Student Media Committee. The committee operates under authority granted by the president of the university and is responsible for advising the vice president for Student Affairs on matters related to student media. In the capacity of advisement to the Department of Student Media, the Student Media Committee exists to support and protect a vigorous, socially responsible student media at Texas Tech University. The committee brings together various elements of the campus community in an appropriate forum to discuss student media issues as they relate to the campus and to advise the vice president for Student Affairs and the Student Media staffs accordingly.
About Daily Toreador
The Daily Toreador (formerly The University Daily) operates under the division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management and is classified as a student organization. The publication is independent of the College of Mass Communications and/or any other faculty, staff or administrative control. The Daily Toreador serves the community at the direction of the editorial board, which is comprised of students from all classifications and majors.
The editorial staff is comprised of about 30 students representing all classifications and majors. Each staff member is dedicated to covering the Texas Tech campus and community in an aggressive, timely manner.
News, features and sports reporters are required to turn in at least one story each day from their assigned beats. Each reporter is assigned a beat or section of the campus/community to cover.
Traditionally, news beats include: Administration, Student Affairs, Public affairs, Health Sciences Center, Law school and graduate school, and Each college within the university
To find out who covers your area or college, call 806-742-3393.
Editorial board members manage the staff and direct daily content. Tech students create all stories, editorials, photographs and graphics, as well as the newspaper itself. The editorial advisers, who work with students, critique the staff’s work for libel, obscenity, invasion of privacy and obstruction of the educational process. Neither the editorial advisers nor any other Tech employee dictate the content of the newspaper. Responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely with the student editors.
The Daily Toreador's Opinions page serves as a forum for the Tech community to voice opinions and viewpoints about current events and issues. The editorial board is responsible for writing editorials about the campus, local, national and international issues. The Daily Toreador has columnists whose columns appear regularly on the Opinions page. Guest columns and letters to the editor also are accepted. Columns, letters and artwork represent the opinions of their authors/ creators and are not necessarily representative of the editorial board, Texas Tech University, its employees, its student body or the Texas Tech University Board of Regents.
Getting coverage in The Daily Toreador
The award-winning Daily Toreador strives to provide the broadest possible coverage of the Texas Tech community. Have something you’d like to see in the paper? Send a news release or contact us. Whenever possible, please provide advance notice (at least two or three days) of planned campus events.
Letters to the editor and guest columns
Letters to the editor are accepted for publication on the Opinions page.
To be considered for publication, letters must:
- Be signed. Anonymous letters will not be accepted for publication.
- Be no longer than two typed, double-spaced pages (or 300 words).
- Include the author’s name, signature, phone number and the last 4 digits of of Social Security number (phone number and Social Security number are needed for verification only; this information will not be published).
- Include information pertaining to author’s university affiliation (classification, major, organization, etc.).
Letters may be dropped off at the newsroom or sent via e-mail.
Guest columns also are welcome and may be submitted to the opinions editor.
News/photo tips
Know of something interesting going on at Texas Tech that you think others might want or need to know about? Call us.
Student Media building, Room 211 806-742-3393 (newsroom) 806-742-2434 (fax) dailytoreador@ttu.edu www.dailytoreador.com
About La Ventana
As one of the oldest traditions at Texas Tech University, La Ventana (Spanish for “the window”) serves as the school’s primary source of recorded history. Its mission is to produce an outstanding depiction of the life of Texas Tech students in an accurate, appealing and innovative manner with broad coverage, in-depth stories, dynamic photographs, tight organization and creative design.
La Ventana operates under the direction of an editorial board made up entirely of Texas Tech students. This group oversees the student staff. A Student Media adviser oversees the activities of the yearbook; however, content is determined entirely by the student staff.
La Ventana is printed each spring semester and distributed at the end of the spring semester.
Make sure you’re in La Ventana
Individual student portraits to be included in the yearbook are made free of charge early in the fall semester. Dates, times and locations are published in The Daily Toreador or online in TechAnnounce. Photo submissions are not accepted.
Secure your copy of La Ventana
To purchase a copy of La Ventana, contact the Student Media business office at 806-742-3388 or include it on your tuition statement during online registration.
A limited number of previously published Tech yearbooks is available. Call 806-742-3388 to check availability.
Student Media building, Room 209 806-742-3383 • 806-742-2434 (fax) dailytoreador.comThe multimedia Web site, dailytoreador.com, operates under the direction of an executive staff made up entirely of Texas Tech students. A Student Media adviser oversees the activities; however, programming is handled entirely by the student staff.
Dailytoreador.com provides students of Texas Tech Universi- ty an enhanced new media experience that will give students learning opportunities in online telecasting, video report- ing and editing, slideshows, blogging and Web site content management. The convergence of our media creates news- casts, sports shows and campus organization talk shows with plans to stream music. The goal is that students will receive experience to launch them in professions in the new areas of multimedia.
Getting the word out to dailytoreador.com viewers and listeners
Texas Tech’s student-run new media Web site is viewed by students, alumni, parents and the local community. If you want to get the word out about your department or organiza- tion, let dailytoreador.com do it through a banner, button, text link or show sponsorship. Fax or call us with the who, what, when, where and why, or drop by The DT advertising office or multimedia Web site office and talk with one of our staff members. We’ll do the rest.
Student Media building, Room 201 806-742-3399 806-742-2434 (fax)
Professional staff
Susan Peterson, director
Susan.Peterson@ttu.edu
806-742-3388
Dawn Zuerker, associate director/advertising manager
Dawn.Zuerker@ttu.edu
806-742-3384
Laura Johnson Snook, Advertising Business Manager
Laura.Johnson@ttu.edu
806-742-3384
Sheri Lewis, associate director/media adviser
Sheri.Lewis@ttu.edu
806-742-3349
Andrea Watson, assistant director/media adviser
Andrea.Watson@ttu.edu
806-742-4349
Darrel Thomas, photography adviser
Darrel.Thomas@ttu.edu
806-742-2954
Amie Ward, business manager
Amie.Ward@ttu.edu
806-742-3388
Kristi Deitiker, administrative business assistant
Kristi.Deitiker@ttu.edu
806-742-3388
Contact us
If you have questions concerning Student Media (The Daily Toreador, La Ventana or dailytoreador.com), contact the Student Media business office at 806-742-3388.History of media on the Texas Tech campus
The Daily Toreador
First issued in 1926 as The Toreador, The Daily Toreador is an official student publication designated by the Texas Tech Board of Regents to serve as a medium of mass communication for the campus community and to provide practical experience for students interested in mass communications. Funded by advertising and subscription revenues, including a bulk subscription from a Student Services Fee allocation, The Daily Toreador is an independent publication that seeks to fulfill the function of any mass medium:
• To inform, educate and entertain the readership;
• To serve as a forum for discussion of critical issues, both on and off campus;
• To bring buyers and sellers together.
As an independent publication serving the campus community, The Daily Toreador maintains professional standards and ethics reflecting the best in American journalism and advertising. Staff members recognize not only the rights granted them by the First Amendment, but also the responsibilities that accompany those rights. Balance, objectivity, accuracy, sensitivity – all are paramount considerations.
Responsibility for various aspects of The Daily Toreador operation is divided between the director of Student Media, who, with the management staff, is responsible for all non-editorial operations (business, advertising and circulation) and the appointed editor-in-chief, who determines editorial content with advice from the editorial advisers when re- quested. The editor-in-chief annually develops an editorial staff handbook for use by the student staff.
La Ventana yearbook
First issued in 1926, La Ventana is an official student publication designated by the Board of Regents to serve as a comprehensive written and photographic record of the annual history of Texas Tech. Self supporting, the yearbook is an independent student publication representative of the campus community as a whole and not of any special interest group.
Responsibility for La Ventana is divided between the director of Student Media, who, with assistance from the La Ventana management staff, handles all non-editorial matters (budgeting, marketing and distribution) and the editor-in- chief, who determines editorial content with advice from the editorial adviser when requested. The editor-in-chief annu- ally develops a staff handbook for use by the student staff.
Contact information
For questions about editorial policy, content, advertising, employment, circulation, subscriptions, photography or this Web site contact any of the following phone numbers or e-mail addresses:
Physical addresses:
• The Daily Toreador – Room 211, Student Media building, Texas Tech
• La Ventana – Room 209, Student Media building, Texas Tech
• dailytoreador.com – Room 201, Student Media building, Texas Tech
Telephone numbers: • The Daily Toreador – 806-742-3393 (newsroom); 806-742-3384 (advertising); 806-742-2954 (photo)
• La Ventana – 806-742-3383 •dailytoreador.com – 806-742-3399
Mailing addresses: For The Daily Toreador, La Ventana or dailytoreador.com: Box 43081 Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3081
dailytoreador.com Although The Daily Toreador began publishing a Web edition in 2001, Student Media recently converged our traditional print and broadcast media to create a new media experience of online journalism to provide students with broader learning needs.
Responsibility for dailytoreador.com is divided between the director of Student Media, who, with assistance from The DT management staff, handle all non-content matters (budgeting and maintenance), and the Web editor, who determines programming with advice from the media advisers. The Web edi- tor annually develops a staff handbook for use by the student staff.
E-mail addresses:
• Editor-in-chief, The Daily Toreador – dailytoreador@ttu.edu
• Editor-in-chief, La Ventana – LaVentana@ttu.edu
• Advertising Deptartment -- dawn.zuerker@ttu.edu
• Photography Deptartment -- darrell.thomas@ttu.edu
• New Media Editor – dailytoreador@ttu.edu
