The Herald has made the difficult decision to shift to a weekly print schedule for the fall semester.
In the coming semester, while many University community members interact with Brown remotely, we are embracing a digital-first model, using our website as our primary news platform. The Herald will publish content online daily, as we did when the University first shifted to remote learning in March.
The weekly print edition will feature curated content that includes breakdowns on the week's news and features on the issues impacting College Hill and Providence. The Herald will also continue to publish columns, op-eds and limited content from post-, The Herald’s weekend magazine, which will also continue to publish in full online.
This decision will allow us to continue to serve our mission as the Brown community’s newspaper of record without compromising the health and safety of our staff. Decreasing our print frequency allows us to spread out when students are in The Herald’s office performing essential production duties in order to maintain social distancing. It also reflects the financial reality of a sharp drop in advertising revenue during the current pandemic and economic downturn.
As we also noted last semester, this is not the first time The Herald has reduced its print schedule — in fact, The Herald was a weekly during part of World War II and dropped the “Daily” from its name during both World Wars. We are grateful to now be able to continue to publish online daily even as we print weekly.
While we are saddened that the circumstances prevent us from continuing the tradition of printing a daily paper this semester, we are heartened by the possibilities of digital news and excited by the many opportunities for innovation and experimentation in the next couple of months. Most importantly, we hope everyone remains safe and healthy as we all navigate the upcoming return to campus.
The Herald will continue to break news daily on and beyond campus, using our website as our primary platform. For daily recaps, subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
—Editors’ Notes are written by The Herald’s 130th editorial board: Colleen Cronin ’21, Allie Reed ’21, Sophie Culpepper ’21, Elise Ryan ’21 and Alex Smolar ’21
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