San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
The Ranger’s rebirth, revival must endure
Former newspaper man Mark Twain responded to news that he was dying or had died in London, by famously saying, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Last week, San Antonio College’s revered student publication, the Ranger, reported that after 95 years, the plan was to shut it down in December. The Ranger’s scoop of its own impending death has turned out to be an exaggeration — not due to faulty reporting but because of timely reporting, which altered the newspaper’s fate and appears to have given it new life.
While there has been remarkable confusion and poor communication by officials, plans to close it appear to have changed.
On Oct. 5, Editor-in-Chief Sergio Medina wrote that the Ranger would cease publishing after December, the slow-building culmination of years of declining enrollment numbers, decreasing budgets and the upcoming retirement of three of its beloved full-time faculty members in SAC’s journalism department. His story ignited emotional shock waves across San Antonio’s journalism community. SAC and Alamo College District officials were unprepared for the response.
The award-winning Ranger has, for generations, been recognized as one of the best college newspapers in America. This year, the Associated Collegiate Press named it one of the Top 100 student publications in the nation. Yet, there has been struggle. It’s small budget was cut over the years, from $36,000 in 2010 to only $10,000 this year. In 2019, the staff was forced to stop printing newspapers because it couldn’t afford it.
It is no exaggeration that the power of the Ranger’s journalism reaches beyond SAC and San Antonio — a springboard for journalists across the nation. For decades, alumni of the Ranger have enriched the pages of the Express-News, and in turn, enriched our community.
It’s influence has been especially critical as a nurturing ground for aspiring journalists of color and those with limited financial resources. For them, it has been a training ground, a living journalism lab, a home. For the profession of journalism, it has been a pipeline for journalists of color in a country where journalists have always been mostly white men.
Before publishing his story, Medina reached out to officials at SAC for comment but received no response. After the story ran, SAC President Robert Vela emailed employees and students to say that the school has no intention of discontinuing student journalism and that in anticipating the retirements of the three faculty members, “…we have begun planning for the publication’s future.”
Last Tuesday, in a livestreamed meeting with this Editorial Board, Alamo Colleges District Chancellor Mike Flores said the Ranger wouldn’t be shutting down and that they want to “reimagine” student journalism, including hiring to fill at least two of the three vacant faculty positions. And, just as he said in his statement after the Ranger’s first report, he called for a community conversation, beginning in November, to discuss the program’s development.
The crux of this story is the difference journalism made. This renewed interest from the college and district in journalism at SAC, the reimagining wouldn’t have happened without Medina’s story. As a journalist, he saw a story, understood its consequences, did due diligence in reporting it fairly and served the public by informing it about the potential demise of the near-century-old institution.
The Ranger’s journalists — and journalism — won the day. Rarely does a piece of journalism so rapidly and decisively reverse a policy decision, but Medina accomplished what all journalists strive for: to make an impact.
There are no clear answers for what the Ranger will become. The most promising proposal to emerge from the Ranger’s near-death experience is Flores’ call for a community conversation. The community that prepared to mourn the exaggerated impending death of the Ranger can now unite in answering Flores’ call to revive and support the cherished publication.
Together, we must ensure that for years to come, the Ranger doesn’t rest for eternity, but thrives.