''The Vidette'' (formerly ''The Daily Vidette'') is a fully digital student-run news organization at

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

. It is an affiliate of

UWIRE UWIRE is a wire service powered by student journalists at more than 800 colleges and universities across the United States. It acts as a sort of hub between these institutions' newspapers, giving each of its over 850 members access to news, sports ...

, which distributes and promotes the paper's content to its network.

History

''The Vidette'' was first published in 1888 and operated as a subscription publication until 1915 when it began receiving support through student fees. Publication frequency increased from weekly to semiweekly in 1934 before reverting to weekly publication in 1943. Through the 1960s and 1970s publication frequency eventually increased to five days per week. In 2013 and 2014 the newspaper reduced publication frequency to four and then two days per week. Im August 2019, The Vidette became a weekly newspaper with a full-service website Following the spring 2021 semester at Illinois State University, ''The Vidette'' will cease publishing a printed newspaper. However, it will continue as a digital news organization via its flagship website Videtteonline.com.

Operations

''The Vidette'' covers international, national, state and local news as well as in-depth features and reviews. In addition, the paper provides ISU students with professional work experience as

journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

graphic designers A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

web developers A web developer is a programmer who develops World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the client, and any general-purpose programming language in the server. is used f ...

and media advertising sales representatives. It employs around 40 students each year and runs on a budget driven primarily through advertising revenue. The ''Vidette'' has a circulation of 4,000 issues a day on Tuesdays during the fall and spring semesters and a digital edition published four times during the summer. In addition to the daily issue, the newspaper staff also produces four special magazine sections throughout the year on a range of topics. ''The Vidette'' has 55 drop spots around the Bloomington-Normal area.

Online

The Vidette websit
Videtteonline.com
features student-generated content in a digital format, as well as multimedia content
videospodcastsphoto galleries
an
blogs)
The website also includes a full calendar of local events and some state and national news from Tribune News Service. The Vidette is active on social media channels. Its Twitter account
@The_Vidette
includes shares breaking news and other content. The Vidette also has
Facebook
page, an
Instagram
account and
YouTube
page. All Vidette podcasts are available throug
SoundCloud Vidette Radio

Awards

''The Vidette'' consistently produces award-winning editorial and advertising content. In February 2021

in the annual Illinois College Press Association competition. In February 2020, ''The Vidette'' won First Place in General Excellence (for contest year 2019) at the Illinois College Press Association convention, which recognizes student newspapers for outstanding work in all aspects of production. It was the second time in three years that The Vidette Staff captured First Place for General Excellence. Recently, it won three national advertising awards among college newspapers with a circulation under 30,000: In February 2021, The Vidette placed second in General Excellence, finishing behind The

Daily Illini ''The Daily Illini'', commonly known as the ''DI'', is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1871. Weekday circulation during fall and spring semesters is 7,000; co ...

at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

Vidette Hall of Fame Members

* 2007: '
Carl Hulse
Jeff Kraft
Kristen McQueary
'' and Janelle Pettit. * 2009: '
Jay Blunk
Bill Gaspard, Todd Heisler, Heidi Voorhees, Harry Thiel and Mike Shelly. * 2011: Ben Cordani, Tina Haisman, Marc Lebovitz and Bill Mulvihill. * 2014: Ed Pyne, John Abrams
Alex Reside
'' and Rick Jones * 2016: '
Scott Gleeson
Jeff Knox, Jim Munz, Shannon Murphy and Chris Ruys * 2018: '
Tony Andracki
Bryan Bloodworth
Jim Kirk
Sally McKee and '
Mitch Pugh
'' * 2020: Anna Frazier,

Mick Hubert Mick Hubert (born February 16, 1954) is a retired radio play-by-play announcer who from 1989 to 2022 served as the primary radio voice and media host for the Florida Gators sports programs at the University of Florida (UF). He was well known for hi ...

Kevin Petschow
'' and '
Jason Piscia
'' (March 2020 induction event has been postponed to March 26, 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidette 1888 establishments in Illinois Illinois State University Newspapers published in Bloomington–Normal Publications established in 1888 Student newspapers published in Illinois