By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
Informing the public is what journalists do and students at Kansas State University are asking for community support in their fields of journalism, so they can get the best experience they need before entering into the professional world of news reporting.
The Kansas State Collegian, is a weekly newspaper at Kansas State University. Its content is reported, edited and produced entirely by students, as they make up the advertising sales staff as well.
Posting content such as news, sports, features and editorials to name a few. The Collegian is owned by the Collegian Media Group, a non-profit business that also publishes the Royal Purple yearbook, the Manhappenin’ Magazine and the Parent and Family Guide.
Most of its revenue derives from sales of advertising, yearbooks, tuition in its summer workshop, and other endeavors. A portion of its funding comes from the students of Kansas State as well.
Director of CMG, Spencer O'Daniel stated how people's financial support would benefit these students.
"When you support Collegian Media Group, you're supporting student journalists and students of all majors throughout our K-State campus," he said. "With around 100 students per year contributing to the K-State Collegian, Royal Purple Yearbook, and Manhappenin' magazine, our students tell the stories and cover the important people, news and events on our campus and throughout the Manhattan community. When you support our student media operation, you are supporting our experiential learning lab that helps build essential soft skills for our students. These soft skills can translate to any career they pursue after graduation."
With the support from the community, CMG invest into upgrading their technology and resources. O'Daniel commented how the investment into their technological resources would benefit the student's news reporting experience.
"An investment into equipment and technology for our group improves our coverage and storytelling down the board and translates towards our audience engagement and what we offer our campus community and the locals around Manhattan as well."
Furthermore, O'Daniel added how CMG teaches their students to become the quality ethical news reporters the world needs.
"Here at Collegian Media Group, we are teaching ethics, morals and journalistic values that can translate to the industry through our different publications and work opportunities for students."
This year, the CMG 2025-2026 class has a "watchdog" mentality and approach to campus news according to O'Daniel.
"It seems they are trying to change the narrative in real time for our campus and community with their revitalized efforts towards hard news, soft news and news that impacts our readership and Manhattan community as a whole," said O'Daniel. "We know that great campus and local news coverage doesn't just translate towards more views and awards, but can positively impact our community in a way that's difficult to measure."
Editor-in-Chief for the Collegian, Meredith McCalmon stated her experience and how support from the public would benefit them in the long run.
"At a time where student publications all across the country are receiving less and less funding, it is more important than ever to hear what young journalists have to say. As a nonprofit organization, Collegian Media Group allows our staff to operate independently. This also means your donations are felt directly by our staff, and you will see their results in the way we serve your community. Your support allows us to ensure our staff has access to opportunities like conferences and workshops where we learn the skills necessary to provide trustworthy content. It helps supply top-notch equipment, so our content gets to you efficiently and at a high quality. Finally, your donations help preserve a piece of Kansas State history. We greatly appreciate your support, and pledge to use it to serve our audience with high-quality news of consequence to Kansans"
To make a donation to CMG, visit: https://www.collegianmedia.com/
For more information about the Kansas State Collegian, visit: https://kstatecollegian.com/