Who are we?

The Prairie News (TPN) is the West Texas A&M University digital newspaper with content reported, edited, and produced entirely by students. The TPN student journalists and the publication are vital in informing the WT students about campus events, serving as a check to the administration, and sharing stories about campus and the surrounding community that other media might miss. TPN is dedicated to supporting and encouraging responsible and independent student journalism by providing an open forum to discuss campus, community, state, national, and international events that impact the community at WT.

TPN is committed to reporting events and issues following practices that honor the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics and operates on professional standards and responsibility instead of censorship or administrative control.

HISTORY
TPN has been dedicated to serving the WT community since October 20, 1919, when four pages were published as the first edition of The Prairie at what was then West Texas State Normal College. The newspaper was hosted by the English Department, and the staff consisted of an editor-in-chief, an assistant editor, a business manager, an art editor, a society editor, and an exchange editor. Some representatives would oversee works on athletics and fine arts. The Prairie joined the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association in 1923, and in the same year, the print issue was published weekly instead of bimonthly.

The Prairie debuted online with the www.theprairienews.com website and Twitter and Facebook pages. The first story on the website was published in 2010, and an Instagram account was started in 2012. Publication dates for the print editions of The Prairie soon took on a once-monthly schedule. Adding social media and a website allowed editors to publish news stories on the website as soon as they were edited, reaching the audience promptly. The print editions soon took on a more feature and narrative style, and news stories were published on the website. Print stories were still published on the website, but only after distribution.

Adapted from Savannah Wesley’s The evolution of The Prairie: From print to web, published in 2019.

ARCHIVES
TPN celebrated its 100th anniversary on October 20, 2019, and distributed its last print issue, transitioning into a fully digital student newspaper. Archives of past printed issues can be found at the Cornette Library Special Collections and University Archives. Some issues are also available at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center.

The earliest print issues can now be found in WT’s digital repository.

Issues printed from 2010-2019 can be found here.