This article is an introduction to what we basically are, a FAQ for the questions everyone asks about The Medium. Now in an easily digestible format.
What is The Medium, anyway?
It’s the second student newspaper of UTM. “Student” here means run by UTM students and not affiliated with the university administration.
Hold up. What do you mean “the second”?
Well, UTM’s first campus newspaper was The Erindalian, founded in 1969. It ran until 1973 and collapsed, but former members founded Medium II in 1974—you see, at the time the exciting new radio station CFRE was considered the primary medium on campus. In 1983, the paper officially split from the student union, and in 1986 Medium II Publications was incorporated. Finally, in 1995 the paper underwent another name change, becoming simply The Medium.
Thanks for the history lesson, egghead.
Anytime.
So what do you do? That is, why The Medium?
We think it’s important that a student body have a means of connecting, of staying informed about their community, and of discussing their concerns. Their own means—not a means in someone else’s periphery. This campus is part of U of T, but we’re doing our own thing out here, too. And that deserves professional coverage.
Cool, cool. One thing. Who’s this “we”?
You.
Pardon?
You! We are you. That is, we’re all UTM students enrolled right now or within the last year. We happen to love writing and editing, particularly the journalistic sort. And some of us like photography, others like design, and so on. Most of us started by poking around the website or paper the way you’re doing now, so if the above describes you, there’s no reason not to keep reading and consider contributing.
Hmmm… I’ll think about it. Meanwhile, I have some serious questions.
Shoot.
Running a newspaper costs money.
True. We get a lot of help from volunteers, but there are some expenses, including head staff, printing, bookkeeping, audits… The service we provide is funded partly by a student levy and partly by advertisements.
And running a company requires accountability.
Absolutely. We are limited by our constitution and overseen by a board of directors that you run for and elect. We also hold an annual general meeting that involves fancy words like “quorum”, and we warmly invite you to come ask questions and propose changes if you don’t like how things are run.
Where do you get your material? Do you source content from The Varsity or other U of T newspapers?
Nope, our content is original. There are a few publications that mention our campus from time to time, but again, UTM should have its own voice. As often as we can, we send our own reporters to events, write our own articles, edit our own videos, and take our own photos. (There are exceptions to the photos.)
Does anyone actually read your paper?
Well, yeah! We frequently get feedback from people who read the print edition. People from a surprising diversity of academic backgrounds. And it’s much easier to track our online traffic, which we get a lot of—and more every year. I know. We’re stoked.
I’m curious about what went down at Erindale Campus 40 years ago. Or I need to do research. Do you keep archives?
We provide archives of the past decade or so on our website (scroll down), but there are gaps in one or two periods. The physical record is more complete. Luckily, our management has been careful to keep copies for most of our history, and a large-scale project is currently underway to digitalize our entire print history. Stay tuned.
Neat. If I want to talk to you, can I come by your office? Um, do you even have an office?
We do, and you can drop in at any time. We’re on the second floor of the Student Centre, right above the infobooth. Room 200 if you’re a numbers person. Now, there might not be someone there at all hours of the day, but Sundays are guaranteed, and we answer email if you want to arrange a specific time.
Okay, I think that’s all for now. Thanks! By the way, let’s say I do want to get involved…?
Sure thing. Just go back to the Contribute section and click around. There’s plenty there to get you started. Or write to us. Whatever floats your boat.
