The Miami Hurricane staff grows in step with journalism industry

Lyssa
Lyssa Goldberg // Online Editor

For four years, The Miami Hurricane newsroom has been the training ground for my future career. I’ve grown alongside my fellow staff members as we’ve watched the journalism industry transform before our eyes and worked together to respond to that.

It’s crazy to think back to my first semester at the University of Miami and consider how much has changed about news delivery since then. On the first day of class, my journalism professor welcomed his students to the School of Communication by declaring: “Newspapers are dying.” Exactly what a freshman majoring in journalism wants to hear.

I can’t tell you how many more times I heard the same refrain that semester, or how many times I’ve heard it in the four years since. But I can tell you how my perspective on it has evolved over time.

I remember picking up a copy of The Hurricane every Monday and Thursday morning in the dining hall. Reading the newspaper over breakfast, I felt I could brush off my professors’ words of discouragement. I still loved the feeling of print and didn’t think that would go away.

Since then my household has canceled its subscription to the physical newspaper, and I can’t be bothered to deal with newsprint on my fingers. I know I can whip out my phone and read the same story.

Fittingly, here I am, writing my goodbye column about a week too late for it to be published in print. (Our final issue of the semester, and the last of my college career, hit stands last Thursday.)

Nonetheless, I know my Facebook friends will still read it once I share it on my profile, and professors will find the link in their Twitter feeds.

In the past year, I’ve interned for a leading digital-first publication, watched other media start-ups blossom, and enjoyed professional news outlets’ creative use of social media tools like Snapchat and Periscope.

The Miami Hurricane has given me the freedom to follow the example of these innovators and experiment with new storytelling platforms. It’s thanks to that opportunity that I feel prepared for the professional world.

Lyssa Goldberg is graduating with majors in journalism and political science.