Pause and Evaluating the

Fourth Estate

The Originals:
Alysia Campbell
Ashley Keenan

April 12th, 2017

Table of Contents
 1

Executive
Summary
.2

Introduction
..3

History of the Fourth

Estate..3

Problems with the Current

Newspaper.4

Competitions
...5

Stated and Unstated

Problems...6

Force
Field
....6

Audience
Analysis
.7

Evaluation
Tool
...10

Final
Decision
..13

Key
Insights
...14
 2

So
What?................................................................................................................
............15

Appendix
.16

Executive Summary

The Fourth Estate has been the the student voice on campus since its first

publication on May 1, 1970. Since then, it has been used as a platform for students on

campus to gain real world experience in a newspaper setting. Since February of 2017,

the Media Workshop class, and the Fourth Estate itself, has been in a Pause and

Evaluate session to determine the future of the paper.

The student run newspaper has faced troubles in the past years with leadership,

oversight, quality, and sustainability. Once an award winning paper, the paper now faces

the possibility of not having enough writers to be able to sustain it in the future. There

has been little oversight from the trained journalism students and the department itself

which has made the quality and credibility of the 4E decline.

When faced with the decision of ending the Fourth Estate and just moving on

with the Communication blog, or using the blog as a stepping stone to continue the 4E

at a different date, we found some underlying questions: What is the best portfolio
 3

builder for all emphases? How will leadership and the structure of the class change?

And how will the 4E be sustainable if it does continue? We try to find solutions to most

of these questions throughout the paper.

We created an evaluation tool that helped us come to the decision about what

would be best for our primary audiences: Communication students and the

Communication department. With considering what was weighted higher, we came to

the decision that we should continue the Fourth Estate but use the Communication blog

as a stepping stone.

Introduction

Our group, The Originals, were tasked with Pausing and Evaluating the future of

the Fourth Estate student newspaper. We will go over the history of the newspaper and

what problems have led to the current Pause and Evaluate session. We created a

Force Field chart to show the current situation and mindset of the students and

leadership of the current Media Workshop class and the direction that the class and

newspaper and/or Communication blog should go. Our group analyzed the audience

and how they will each be affected by changes made to the newspaper and the

structure of the class. We also created an evaluation tool that helped make the decision

of whether we should end the Fourth Estate and continue with just the Communication

blog or use the blog as a stepping stone to continue the Fourth Estate. Our final

decisions and recommendations will hopefully be able to help the board make an

informed decision on what is best for the students, department, and the paper.

History of the Fourth Estate

 4

The Fourth Estate officially started in 1969 when the new name of the student

newspaper was adopted. The first publication was May 1, 1970. The Fourth Estate was

described as the voice of students on campus and won multiple awards prior to 2015,

when major problems of the newspaper became an issue. In 2008 and 2014, the paper

won the states General Excellence award for weekly college newspapers in the

Wisconsin Newspaper Associations Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest. The

newspaper was seen as a tradition on campus. The newspaper received little oversight

from the Communication department even though the department was responsible for

the paper. The quality of the paper suffered because the writers and leaders were

students with no formal journalism training and there was limited supervision by the

journalism faculty member.

In 2014, the hiring process for a new journalism professor started. Every

candidate interviewed was told of that creating a high-quality Fourth Estate was a

priority for the position. Also during this time, Media Workshop I and II students were

focused on creating the new papers digital presence. The legal and administrative

machinery was shifted to the Communication Department and away from the SUFAC

where it was previously funded. SUFAC also provide over $3,000 for the 4E to

transition. In 2015, classes in the journalism emphasis were re-oriented to

accommodate for the shift towards digital journalism. This included Print Practicum I

and II that switched to Media Workshop I and II and it was added as a requirement for

Public Relations emphases as well. Feature Writing was also phased out and became

Digital Journalism.
 5

The beginning of the Spring 2017 semester is when the new Digital 4E was

launched. The focus of the Media Workshop class then shifted towards a Pause and

Re-evaluate phase that brings us to the project that our group was tasked with.

Problems with Newspaper

The Fourth Estate faces many different problems. The first and biggest issue is

how it will be able to be sustainable with so few writers enrolled in the Media Workshop

course compared to the amount of Public Relations students. We will not be able to

continue the Fourth Estate if we will not be able to find writers for it. This is a question

that we will not be able to answer since we do not know how many journalism students

will be in the class or volunteer in the future.

Another problem that led us to Pause and Evaluate session is oversight of the

Media Workshop class and the newspaper. The previous leadership did not give the

class much structure and it led to confusion and frustration with the students who did

not know the direction they should be going. Proper structure and deadlines will create

a smoother process for the students and create a clearer path of where the class and

newspaper is going.

The quality of newspaper has also become a problem in the previous years. The

most recent problem has been been with the website of the digital 4E. Links were

broken and some stories were not able to be viewed. Stories in the past have created

negative attention towards the department. An example of this was in 2013 when a

writer used a womans picture without her consent and she posted about it on her

deviantart page, calling out the reporter, the university, and the department. There were

also reports of stories not having the right facts or quotes as well. Most of these
 6

problems can be solved with having the properly trained students writing stories for the

paper and proper oversight.

Competition

St. Norberts has a digital format for their newspaper. They use a wordpress as

their platform. They traditionally post articles about every month. We could not find any

evidence that they had a print version.

UW-Oshkosh may be our biggest competitor since it is the closest public

university. They have both a digital version where they post about every week. They

also do have a print version but are in debt to their school because of the printing costs.

UW-Milwaukee had a print and digital version but switched completely digital in

the Spring of 2013 because they saw they were recycling over half of the papers

distributed. They seem to post more sporadically rather than a designating posting time.

Because of the size of the school and their staff, they may not have a sustainability

issue and are able to post more frequently.

Stated and Unstated Problems

When given this project, we were given the task of assessing the different paths

that the department could take. Should the Fourth Estate continue? Should the

department find a different way for students to build their portfolios? Or should we use

the Communication blog as a stepping stone to continue the Fourth Estate?

Within these stated problems, we found that the unstated problems consisted of

what is the best portfolio builder for all the emphases? How will leadership and the

structure of the class change? And, how will the Fourth Estate be sustainable if it does
 7

continue? Although the question of leadership cannot be answered right away, our

group tried to create some insight throughout this report of how to answer the others.

Force Field Analysis

We created a force field chart (Appendix A) that helped us map the direction of

the class and newspaper today and how it should change when finding the solution. We

are starting with a weak push forward and a weak pull back. The class is pausing to see

the different possibilities that the Media Workshop holds. We are re-defining the

challenges of the class and its structure by choosing the future of the Fourth Estate and

creating the blog. We also got a fresh pair of eyes outside of the Communication

department to be able to look at the challenges and share their opinion.

After the decision is made, we want to be able to correct the errors of the past

newspaper and leadership to be able to go forward. No matter the decision, we want to

be able to create a win for the students and the department, focusing on this semesters

journalism students as a short term win. Journalism students came into Media

Workshop with the impression that they would be able to write content for the Fourth

Estate and be able to have articles for their portfolio. We want to make sure that they

have some portfolio building opportunities before the end of the semester and for those

students going into the fall semester Media Workshop as well.

Audience Analysis

We conducted an audience analysis (Appendix B) on a number of groups to help

us determine the proper strategy needed moving forward. Our first audience that we

looked at was the UWGB Communication students. We identified media workshop

students and professors as the lions in this category because they will know the most
 8

information on this change that will be occurring. They will be able to answer questions

and help advise students in the future with this class. The affect that the UWGB

Communication students will have is a change in a critical class that is needed in order

to graduate. It will also affect them because it may take away from portfolio building

opportunities. The channel we would communicate to these students is through email

or in person meetings. They believe that by gaining real world experience in college will

best help them when graduating and going into the workforce. The UWGB

Communication students goals is to gain experience, build portfolio material, and to

think strategically while communicating professionally.

We looked at Public Relation students as an audience to gauge their thought

process. The Lions are the media workshop students and professor Bina when thinking

about the changes that could be made. They will be able to voice the opinions for what

they think will best for this emphasis and will be able to communicate information to the

other students in the emphasis. The affect that the PR students will have is that it will

be less portfolio building material for these students. The will also have less of a hybrid

experience when it comes to looking at PR students working on journalism styled

projects. The channel that we would use to communicate with them is through email

and through an in person meeting. The PR students believe that the blog is a great

source for building a portfolio and gaining real world experience. The main goal for this

group is to gain experience and have the opportunity to build their portfolio.

We looked at the Journalism Students as a group. The lions for this group is

media workshop students and Professor Coman. They will be able to speak out for

what they feel will best help this emphasis the best. They will also be able to
 9

communicate to people the changes that are being made with the class. The affect that

the can happen to this group is the loss of the 4E will be less of an opportunity to build

portfolio materials. The blog also does not give off the same atmosphere as the student

newspaper would for the journalists. The channel that we would use to communicate

with them is through email and through an in person meeting. They believe that the loss

of the Fourth Estate would be detrimental for their success in program. The goal for

these students is to Gain experience in a newspaper atmosphere and create material of

portfolio.

We looked at the Communication Department Faculty as an audience that would

be a part of this decision. The biggest lion for this group would be Professor Clampitt.

He would be able to communicate why the change is needed and how the process will

be moving forward. The affect the change will have with the faculty is that a change of

leadership may affect the course load some will have to handle in a semester. They

would help be an oversight to the Communication blog and if the 4E is not continued

that oversight would not be needed here. The channel that we would use to

communicate with them is through email and through an in person meeting. The faculty

believes that the 4E has created problems for the department in the past and that the

blog will benefit the students and the department as a whole. The goal for this group is

to create the best experience for students to get real world experience and create

portfolio building material.

The UWGB student body/community is another group we looked at when making

the decision. The chancellor and the department heads would be the lions for these

groups because they have the most power to push for change. The affect that the
 10

group will have is that they will lose a major news source for the UWGB campus. The

best way to communicate to this group is through emails and through the use of social

media updates. This audience believes that the blog may not apply to them depending

on the direction that the blog goes in the long run. The goal for this group is to stay up

to date on information, events, and updates that are relevant to them on campus.

The UWGB Journalist Alumni is another audience that we thought about when

making this decision. The lions for this group would be the Alumni Coordinator and the

Alumni Association. They will be affected by this change because part of their history

and contribution to the university may be lost with this change. The best way to

communicate with them is through email, newsletters, and social media posts. They

believe that the 4E has deep roots and tradition in the university's history. The goal for

this group is to keep UWGB thriving and want to keep their contribution/memory on

campus alive.

Our last audience we analyzed is the potential journalism students. The lions

that will help with this change is the Career Counselors and the Student Ambassadors.

These students will be affect because they may chose a different school if we do not

offer a student newspaper to work with. We will communicate with this group through

pamphlets and face to face during their tours and during their R&R (orientation) in the

summer. They will believe that UWGB may not be the school for them if we do not have

a student ran newspaper. The goal for this group is to go to a university that best fits

their wants/needs and will help best help them get experience to go into the workforce

with.

Evaluation Tool
 11

Our evaluation tool (Appendix C) that we crafted to help us determine which

direction we should move in as a class. It is based off of a 0-10 scale. 0 being the worst

and 10 being the best. We also put it in order of importance/weight from highest to

lowest. The highest weighted categories were looked at when determining the final

decision. We split it into two categories of ending the Fourth Estate (4E) and move

forward with just the communication blog or continuing a student newspaper and use

the communication blog as a stepping stone as we rebuild.

Our first category is what can best build a portfolio for Journalism students. We

rated this as a 6 in the ending the fourth estate because it is a very narrow scope of

content that journalist can write on when looking at the blog. We also looked at if the

blog would be relevant for the journalism students.

When looking at continuing the student newspaper we gave this category a 9

because it would be more relevant in content writing and would be more of a journalistic

style for the students portfolio.

Our next category is building portfolios for PR students. When it came to ending

the 4E we ranked this at an 8. This will give PR students an opportunity to experience

the blog format and helps give them professional experience. Blogs are becoming more

relevant in the PR world and will help students when going into the career field.

When ranking this for continuing the newspaper we ranked it as a 10. It helps

develop the hybrid nature that the PR students are getting in the communication here at

UWGB. By learning and experiencing the journalistic side helps make us well rounded

in the field. This also give us more option for a traditional PR structure.
 12

The next category we looked at was the communication department. For ending

the 4E we gave it a 7. This will give the department a chance to get a blog and help

promote what we are doing. It also will help keep students informed and engaged in

trends and opportunities in the department.

We rated it as an 8 for continuing the student newspaper. This will help current

and prospective journalism students a chance to gain experience in their field. This will

also be a better way to reach a wider audience and show the work that the department

and the students are working on.

The next category is oversight. For ending the 4E we rated this as 8 This would

only have one platform that would need overseen at a time.

With continuing the newspaper we gave this a 7. This would need to have

someone to manage both the blog content and the newspaper with oversight. There

would also need to be oversight with the structure of having both the blog and the

newspaper.

The next category we have is sustainability. We gave ending the 4E a 7.

Everyone would be dedicated to creating content for the blog if the structure stays the

same.

We gave a 6.5 for continuing the student newspaper for a few reasons. Having

to create content for both the blog and the newspaper may be a problem depending on

the structure of the class. Another concern we had with this is would we have the

proper amount of journalism students enrolled in the class to be able to produce content

that would be needed for both platforms. This would also give opportunities are PR
 13

students to work with news releases about opportunities that would come with these

platforms.

When we looked at cost we rated it a 9 when it came to looking at ending the

fourth estate. It would only be one platform that would need to be maintained and

would have one low annual fee.

When looking at continuing the newspaper we ranked the cost as a 7. With a

website for the newspaper we were unsure of the options we would have. If it could be

ran within the communication department and how much that would cost to maintain.

We would also have to pay for both the blog and the newspaper website costs. We also

looked into returning to SUFAC to receive funding since it would be a not for profit

organization.

Our last category that we looked at was structure of the class. For continuing

with just the blog we rated this as a 10. It would only be one platform that would need

to be maintained and would be the main focus for the class to work on.

For continuing the newspaper we rated this as a 6. We are uncertain of what the

structure of the class would be if we restarted the newspaper and had to maintain the

blog. This structure would need to be crafted before the next class starts.

The final totals for both are 55 for ending the 4E and 53.5 for continuing the

newspaper.

Final Decision

Our final decision to use the Communication Department blog as a stepping

stone while we restructure and rebrand the campus newspaper. We believe if we use a

slow roll technique that it will help insure that we have a quality product with proper
 14

oversight before we release it. We feel that this option will help make a win for both the

communication department a win along with all of the communication students. Having

blog running and rebranding the student newspaper will give experience to all of the

students in the department.

We would like to point out that even though in our evaluation tool the final

number suggests that it may not be the winner we would like to point out our weighted

system. The top categories we looked at when making this choice was: portfolio

building for Journalism/PR Students and the outcome for Comm Department. All of

these categories were higher rated for continuing the student newspaper rather than

ending it. This weighting option was what helped us make our final decision.

Key Insights

Our key insights for this project is that the student newspaper needs to be

rebranded in order for it to succeed. With the past negatively associated with the name

Fourth Estate we feel that moving away from this name will only benefit the newspaper

and give it a fresh start without a bad reputation.

Another insight that we made is that the newspaper must be able to sustain

writers. If we do not have a good amount of journalistic writers it will be hard to keep

the content as consistent in the newspaper. We will need proper oversight with this

project to insure that we keep the legitimacy of the newspaper. We also feel that there

must be a clear structure of class to make sure that deadlines are being met and

standards are being followed.

So What?
 15

When making decisions it is important to consider the push forward and pull back

points to help make the best choice possible. It is necessary to evaluate the situation

and decide whether you want a strong or weak push forward, and the same for the pull

back.

When looking at evaluation tools it is important to look at the final number but

also equally important to look at the categories that need to be weighed higher than

others to help make your final decision. The total number does not necessarily predict

the outcome. Considering the weighting of the categories is what really makes the

decision.

Appendix

Appendix A: Force Field Chart

 16

Pull Back-Strong Pull Back-Weak

Push Forward-Strong Lets experiment with other Lets correct the errors and
alternatives even as we go go forward
forward
Pause and assess
Seek counsel of
experienced people before
proceeding

Push Forward-Weak Other alternatives look Pause and re-imagine the

better at this time possibilities
Best to chalk this up as a Re-define the challenge
learning experience Get a fresh set of eyes on
the challenge

Appendix B: Audience Analysis

Audience Lions Affect on Group Channel Beliefs Goals

UWGB Media Change of critical Email Gaining real To gain

Comm workshop class world experience
Students students Less portfolio building Face to experience and portfolio
opportunities Face building
Professors meetings material

PR Students Media Portfolio building Email The blog is a To gain

workshop material great source experience
students Less hybrid emphasis Face to for portfolio and portfolio
in Media Workshop Face building building
Professor meetings material
Bina

Journalism Media Loss of 4E means Email Loss of 4E Gain

Students Workshop less portfolio building would be experience in a
students material Face to detrimental newspaper
Blog does not create Face for their atmosphere
Professor same atmosphere as meetings success in and create
Coman student newspaper program material of
portfolio

Comm Professor Changes in course Email The 4E has Create the

Department Clampitt leadership may affect created best
Faculty their course load Face to problems for experience for
Blog would need Face department students to get
 17

oversight meetings in past real world

4E would not need experience
oversight if Blog will and create
discontinued benefit the portfolio
students and building
department material

UWGB Chancellor Will lose major source Email Blog may not Stay up to date
students/co of UWGB news apply to on information,
mmunity Department Social media them events, and
heads updates? (depending updates that
on direction) are relevant to
them

UWGB Alumni Part of their history Email The 4E has Keep UWGB
journalist Coordinator and contribution to deep roots thriving and
alumni the university may be Newsletters and tradition want to keep
Alumni gone in the UWGB their
Association Social Media history contribution
and memory to
the campus
alive

Potential Career May choose a Pamphlets UWGB may Go to a

journalism Counselors different school if we not be the university that
students do not have a student Face to best school best fits their
Student newspaper Face (during for them if needs and
Ambassadors tours, R&R, we do not wants
orientation) have a paper

Appendix C: Evaluation Chart

Ending the Rationale Continui Rationale

4E (just ng 4E
*Order from comm blog) (comm
highest blog as
weighted- lowest stepping
weighted* stone)

Portfolio 6 Narrow scope of 9 More relevant content

building for content Journalistic styling
Journalism Relevant for
students journalism?

Portfolio 8 Experiencing blog 10 Hybrid of emphases

building for PR format More options for structure
 18

students Professional
experience

Outcome for 7 Has department blog 8 Prospective journalist

Comm Keep students students can gain experience
Department informed/engaged in Opportunity to reach wider
trends and audience
opportunities in the
department

Oversight 8 Only have to manage 7 Manage blog and newspaper

one platform Structuring issues between
both

Sustainability 7 Everyone would be 6.5 Multiple platforms to create

working on creating
content (depending on
structure)
for
Number of journalism
students in class?
PR students may contribute
NRs

Cost 9 Only one platform to 7 Unsure of website options

maintain (monthly/annual costs?)
Low annual fee Paying for both platforms
SUFAC?

Structure 10 Straightforward 6 Structure uncertainty for

structure students (split between blog
and paper)

Total: 55 53.5