ACP creates gallery of post-election newspapers

Marc Wood of Associated Collegiate Press has put up a gallery of post-election college newspaper front pages. You can also view it as a slideshow.

If you want to add your newspaper's Page 1 to the gallery, you can upload it here or email Wood at wood (at) studentpress.org.

College papers overwhelmingly favor Obama

Barack Obama has garnered more than twice as many daily newspaper endorsements as John McCain, according to Editor and Publisher. But the results are even more lopsided for college newspapers: 65 to 1.

Of the 66 college newspapers counted in the E&P tally, only one -- The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi -- endorsed McCain.

In its Oct. 28 endorsement, The Daily Mississippian agrees with McCain's argument that he is the more experienced of the two candidates.

"We feel Sen. McCain’s experience in foreign affairs and his decision to not raise taxes on anyone of any class of society makes him the clear choice for president," the editors write. "Sen. McCain has a history of stepping across party lines; the same cannot be said of Sen. Obama."

The editorial notes that the five editors on the editorial board were split on the decision.

The pro-McCain editorial was the most read story on The Daily Mississippian's Web site last week. At last count, 31 people had commented on it, offering a range of opinions.

Among the red-state college papers that endorsed Obama are The Louisville Cardinal at the University of Louisville, The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina, the Daily Texan at the University of Texas-Austin, the Oklahoma Daily at the University of Oklahoma and The Optimist at Abeline Christian University. The Arizona Daily Wildcat at the University of Arizona, McCain's home state, also came out for Obama.

For a list of college newspaper endorsements, scroll down to the bottom of this article on E&P.

Cardinal Courier site barraged by Paul supporters

Want to get people to read your online newspaper? Want to be flooded with comments? Write about presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Just look at what happened to the Cardinal Courier, the student newspaper at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

On Wednesday, the newspaper wrote an editorial criticizing the presidential candidate's performance in the Nov. 28 CNN/YouTube debate.

"I saw the debate," Editor-in-Chief Bill Kuchman wrote in the signed editorial. "I watched every minute of it. I heard every answer. While the results were a mixed bag, I know one thing for certain: Ron Paul is a waste of my time and trivializes the entire debate process."

The response was almost immediate.

"Within the first two hours of the article being available online, it had over 2,000 views," Kuchman wrote in a letter to The Student Newspaper Survival Blog Wednesday evening. "This was a lot for us considering our previous high for a day was just under 2,000. As of now, the article has close to 6,000 views and over 220 comments." (By Thursday evening there were 287 comments on the editorial.)

The Cardinal Courier staff did some research and found that DailyPaul.com, a site created by Paul booster Mike Nystrom, had picked up the article and was urging readers to comment against it.

"The comments not only defend Paul, but attack the character of our paper and of myself," Kuchman wrote in his letter to us. "The funny thing is that in the editorial, I talked about Paul supporters hijacking political discussion on sites like CNN and in response, that's exactly what they did to Cardinal Courier Online."

Kuchman asks: "Have any other newspapers run into this kind of thing? I'm sure the Cardinal Courier isn't the only one to wade into political arena now that we're less than a year away from the presidential election."

If you've had a similar experience with presidential politics or with a blog launching a campaign against your site, post a comment.

Grinnell student paper breaks Clinton scandal

Some are calling it "Plant-gate."

The Scarlet and Black, the student newspaper at Grinnell College, broke a big political story last week when it reported that a Hillary Clinton campaign aide had asked a student from the Iowa college to pose a question about global warming to the presidential candidate.

Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff told her campus newspaper that audience questions at a Nov. 6 campaign event at a Newton, Iowa biodiesel plant were "canned." “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],” she told reporter Patrick Caldwell.

Clinton has said she wasn't aware the question had been planted.

The professional media has been all over the story ever since, with reports in The New York Times, the New York Post, The Nation and other media.

Interestingly, the Scarlet and Black didn't seem to realize just what a big scoop it had. The story ran on Page 2 of the newspaper's special 4-page "caucus insert" although it's the top story on the newspaper's home page.

Update: You can view a taped interview with Gallo-Chasanoff at CNN.com.