By Mike Benjamin
Oswego, NY – As the newspaper industry in the U.S. continues to shrink, students and faculty at Syracuse University's Newhouse School are bucking the trend by launching a new paper focused on the residents of the city's south side.
Steve Davis, chair of the newspaper journalism department at SU, said he envisions the paper as a "People Magazine" for Syracuse's south side.
Davis said the paper represents an effort to revitalize the news industry by giving a voice to the people and communities that may be underrepresented in mainstream media.
"The truth is that we have fewer people available to do things. Generally speaking, no matter how we present it, that's just the brutal truth. Community journalism has taken a bit of a hit because of that. Not only is this a great experience for our students but it's also fulfilling a need for communities that find themselves represented in the media less and less as time goes on," said Davis.
He said he hopes to hand control of the the paper over to members of the south side community once the paper gets up and running sometime next year.