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As I read the most recent news stories from Western Kentucky University’s online newsroom, it was evident that WKU had a tendency to focus on “soft news” stories. A majority of the recent news stories focused on student’s accomplishments. (i.e. scholarships, awards, etc.) Half of the most recent news stories dealt with student’s academic recognition. Two of the news stories dealt with events happening around campus (Kentucky Science Olympiad, Special Needs Summit) and three dealt with what some students are doing around campus (Broadcasting Department receiving new set, Beekeeper on WKU Farm).
Out of the ten most recent news stories in WKU’s online newsroom, none of them ended up being covered in the local newspaper. Although WKU is often covered in the local news, many of these stories aren’t newsworthy to the majority of the Bowling Green public. There is so much happening at WKU, that it would be impossible for the local paper to cover everything. The Daily News tends to focus on the larger events, while the online newsroom focuses on everything happening around WKU.
The relationship between public relations and journalism in Bowling Green seems to be a good one. The newspaper relies on WKU public relations for news and they take what they believe will be beneficial knowledge to the public and present it to them. I believe that the paper is doing a good job of determining what is newsworthy and I believe that WKU is doing a great job of informing the public with what’s happening on campus.
