''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 research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

. It is an affiliate of

UWIRE UWIRE is an American wire service for 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, sp ...

, 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. In 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 website.

Operations

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

journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

graphic designers A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

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 ...

and media advertising sales representatives. It employs around 40 students each year and runs on a budget driven primarily through the university. The ''Vidette'' currently garners total yearly pageviews between 500,000 and 1,000,000 on average. The ''Vidette'' formerly had 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 produced four special magazine sections throughout the year on a range of topics. ''The Vidette'' had 55 drop spots around the Bloomington-Normal area.

References

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