The Whit has provided readers with the ability to stay up to date with the latest news, sports and everything in between at Rowan University for a little less than a century. Rowan Television Network (RTN) is an outlet that live streams events and shows to entertain and inform members of that same community. Rowan Radio does all of that with an extra touch of music incorporated into their programming.
Beyond the basic functions of the three media outlets which are run by the students of Rowan, these organizations allow those said students from the Ric Edelman College of Communications and Creative Arts (and even those who aren’t) to gain real-life experience producing content for the various types of mediums. Keeping that in mind, The Whit Staff hopes that there will eventually be partnerships across all three of Rowan’s communications outlets.
There hasn’t been much, if any, of a crossover between the three platforms. The Whit has had coverage on both RTN and Rowan Radio, while all three can likely be found at Rowan home sporting events like a Profs football game. With the already good relationship, The Whit has been able to form with their counterparts, along with the fact there is also overlapping coverage, it isn’t hard to see this becoming a possibility.
Maybe Whit writers can offer field reporting on Rowan events they are covering for RTN news shows or be guests on a Rowan Radio talk show. If any or all of the three outlets can collaborate on reporting for a big story where they can utilize all different types of mediums, it would be great to see them all come together.
Considering the fact that many of the students working for the school’s media outlets usually participate in more than just one, it would be easy for the students to feel comfortable working across the different platforms because they do it already.
Because there is already this strong platform an unconscious partnership might have always been there. This is especially true when it comes to sports, since the beat writers from The Whit are the ones constantly talking to the same teams Rowan Radio covers. Whether it is the Profs or a minor league team through a Sports CaM partnership, the broadcasters sometimes use the quotes they see in The Whit articles. Right there is an example of how the two outlets have already been influenced by the other and that this wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine.
College newspapers are recently starting to form partnerships with local news stations to help develop and produce stories for their broadcasts, leading to a possibility that RTN and The Whit can look into a possible partnership. Not only are there many journalism students who want to get the chance to gain experience from both sides of helping develop a news broadcast, but employers will likely look for journalists who can do the research, writing and broadcast work. So that is just one way a Whit-RTN partnership could work.
There would have to be a lot of conversations between the future heads of RTN, Rowan Radio and The Whit if this idea of the three media outlets working together can become a reality, but there is definitely a foundation there and reasons why it would work. The students involved with the Rowan University media organizations would only benefit from the three clubs helping one another out.
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