From the time of town criers and town meetings, to the golden age of radio and television, to the era of the Internet and the cell phone, news finds its way to us whether we like it or not.
On campus, the story is the same, with every student getting his or her news from a variety of different sources.
The students on campus are a young and vibrant group, becoming more fast-paced and technologically savvy each day. Getting any of them to sit down and watch a generic broadcast news program is virtually impossible.
The number of students who watch such national and local programs on a regular basis is dwindling.
"I think people watch much less TV when they're at college because there's so much more stuff going on," says Shannon Sullivan, A&S '08.
With the amount of work students have, along with the activities they are involved in and socializing with friends, very few students watch much TV.
Instead of having the TV on in the background to catch little bits of news here and there, students tend to tune in to specific programs like Family Guy, The OC, America's Next Top Model, and Sunday football games. Though these don't count as viable news sources, some television programs such as Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and numerous late night talk shows emerge as students' favorite news sources.
The Daily Show, which is a TV "news" show popular on college campuses across the country, stars Stewart and a group of correspondents who provide humorous reports and commentary.
In addition to these news stories, The Daily Show includes interviews with celebrities, semi-celebrities, and political figures, such as former Sen. Bob Dole, political analyst Bill O'Reilly, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former President Bill Clinton.
The Daily Show reaches out to a target audience that is often neglected by the mainstream news media, and that audience is the college crowd.
Though the political leanings of The Daily Show are quite clear, the program appeals to liberal and conservative students alike.
"The Daily Show is a good example of a program that a number of students watch on a weekly or sometimes even daily basis. I think it's because the show itself gives you the news but also makes fun of it, as well as taking it a next step that is almost always ridiculous and funny," says Tim Pultorak, CSOM '07.
The popularity of such tongue-in-cheek news casting suggests that BC students, and the 18-to-24-year-old demographic in general, respond well to news that is presented in such a way that is edgy, a bit sarcastic, but altogether entertaining.
The Daily Show's recent spin-off, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central's answer to the O'Reilly Factor, premiered in October in the 11:30 p.m. time slot immediately following Stewart and has garnered much of its own success.
Though The Daily Show is quite popular on campus, most students get their news from one of the most prevalent mediums of our culture - the Internet.
When most students have some downtime they inevitably find themselves online.
Whichever browser one uses, whether it be Internet Explorer, Netscape, America Online, or another, each includes a homepage that has some array of news headlines on it.
Though the default homepage of browsers on campus is the BC Info Web site, many students change this feature to suit their own personal news needs.
"I get my news from CNN.com which I have programmed as my homepage," says Allie Hoffman, LSOE '09.
The wide range of Internet news is limitless and most students on campus take advantage of the variety out there.
"I usually get my news from Web sites like MSNBC.com, and netscape.com as well as looking at sports Web sites like ESPN.com and bceagles.com," Pultorak says.
Many students also cited Yahoo News, BBC World News, and other newspaper Web sites as their news sources.
As checking e-mail and instant messaging are becoming a function of everyday life, it only makes sense that news follows the people, and at BC the people are definitely online.
Many programs such as AOL allow their members to completely customize their news to particular interests.
With Internet news, viewers have the luxury of simply clicking on different sections and viewing a whole list of headlines instantly. Though thumbing through the pages of a newspaper isn't that daunting of a chore, having your news up on a Web site that you can minimize while talking to your buddies and sending an e-mail makes the college art of multi-tasking almost effortless.
Internet news is there when you want it and can simply be clicked away when you've had enough - all without the clutter of paper.
To tackle the declining readership of papers by the younger generations, almost all major newspapers have ventured into the online market and made themselves available there.
Although the Internet news and the increasinly popular "fake" news shows like The Daily Show are the most popular news sources on campus, many students still remain more traditional. They turn to print media for their facts.
"I typically get my news from The Boston Globe since I have it delivered to my apartment," says Carmen Buccheri, LSOE '07.
For those who like to have a hard copy of the news, BC is very successful in supplying them with editions of The Boston Globe, the Herald, and The New York Times. The Be Current campaign, launched last year, encourages students to peruse a free newspaper on their way to class.
This doesn't even include the numerous school publications that are widely read around campus, or the colorful copies of USA Today sold in the dining halls.
Just a trip down some residence hall corridors will also show you the number of people subscribing to publications such as The Wall Street Journal.
It is true that many students read newspapers on campus, but the trend is dwindling in today's fast-paced world.
"I would say I'm pretty news-savvy," says Gina Scarpa, A&S '08, who recognizes that she is part of the student minority that reads papers on a consistent basis. She does admit, however, that her reading of the newspaper is spurred on by her PULSE class this year and a current affairs course that she took in high school.
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