| Type | Weekly student paper |
|---|---|
| Format | Paper |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Headquarters | New Brunswick, NJ 08901 |
| Official website | www.rutgersmedium.com |
The Medium is the student-run weekly entertainment and comedy newspaper at Rutgers University. The paper refers to itself as "The Entertainment Weekly of Rutgers University."
During the 2000s, as a result of frequent attacks on their right to print offensive material, the editors and contributors of The Medium had turned the paper into a veritable exercise of their First Amendment Rights, often in ways that resulted in protests from the student body and pressure from the administration. Nearly all protests against The Medium have been largely ineffective because of the University's commitment to democracy.
The current version of The Medium is purely satire and humor based on events on the Rutgers University campus, current events, and popular culture.
Contents |
The front pages of The Medium is the news section provides articles that are satire of news on the Rutgers University campus, current events, and popular culture. Usually these articles are twisted out of real occurrences, the normal exception being The Daily Medium issue where many of the articles may be completely false for the shock reaction of the readers.
The features section includes normally recurring content every week. Examples include a piece by the editor giving a humorous opinion or point of view on events on campus, a Student of the Week piece featuring students around campus, and the Cute Thing of the Week which shows images of cute things submitted by students.
The opinions section contains in-character and real student submitted opinion pieces commenting on current events and occurrences at the university. A popular feature of this page is the Point/Counterpoint which gives two views of things occurring simultaneously.
The arts section includes staff artist and student submitted comics and art pieces. People also submit images of graffiti found around the campus. Occasionally, a writer or editor may also review music or movies here.
In the personals section, anonymous messages are printed in the newspaper, classifieds style, allowing students to freely criticize Rutgers administration, other students and national establishments.
The newest revision to the paper has been the replacement of the former What's Shakin' page, which during the early 2000s listed on-campus events such as underground concerts, comedy shows, and other events submitted by readers. As submissions to this section decreased, it took on a more variety style with the editor of the section having the freedom to carry the page out as they saw fit, making it similar to the Arts and Features sections at times.
The new Wine & Lifestyle page is more so a diversions page featuring games such as mazes and puzzles. Other features include a weekly music review from independent radio station 90.3 The Core, and food reviews of the numerous on campus eateries.
The Medium printed its first issue on September 1, 1970 as the campus newspaper of Livingston College. During the 1980s, the newspaper began to abandon the traditional news-gathering and reporting activities in favor of its current, satirical format. This was partly due to The Daily Targum becoming the official college daily newspaper across all of the New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses.
In 2004, the paper came under fire for a cartoon published on the cover of a Spring issue. The cartoon involved Holocaust Remembrance Day and resulted in the resignation of senior staff members.[1]
Although at one time it stood as standard practice, The Medium no longer prints pornographic material. This has come at the request of advisors, and with mixed feelings from past editors and current readers.
On April Fool's Day, the staff of the paper distribute a parody of The Daily Targum called The Daily Medium. The parody includes fake university news and opinions.