Do you know JMC’s Orville Herndon? Along with a long list of duties, he is the publication manager for The Murray State News. Orville has been involved with The Murray State News since the early 1980s. First as a student and then as a Murray State employee, Orville has seen The News through a lot of changes,
working with nine different advisers and six department chairs.
Orville was here when The News was typed out on manual typewriters and sent to a typesetter.
When proofs were poured over on light tables and found errors excised with a razor knife and
replaced with another character or word taped in place. When major news stories broke or
when the typesetter broke right before the homecoming edition, Orville was here. At 3:30 a.m.
He managed the dark room and its chemicals. He was here to install and maintain The News’
own next-generation typesetter. He often cleaned it with lighter fluid when its sensors became
clogged. He saw The News move from typewriters to word processors to electronic pre-press.
Then and now, he works on ad sales, ad creation and placement. He is chemist, mechanic,
salesman, and computer technologist. We just call him, “Orville.” He has served as a change
agent many times over.
More change is happening at The Murray State News. It because of the changes happening in
the rest of the world. As one of our favorite media scholasr, Marshall McLuan, observed, the
content of new media is old media. Somewhere along the way “old media” was dubbed
“traditional media” and as of this writing, “legacy media.” McLuan is also famous for saying,
“The media is the message.” Content is the same. It is experienced differently.
For many viewers, television is just another app on their phone. They experience the same
content differently than previous generations. They don’t have to climb up on the roof to adjust
the antenna. News consumers don’t have to fetch their paper from the driveway anymore,
hoping it didn’t get wet from the rain. It’s on their device. The Murray State News needs to be
on that device, too.
Some years ago, in the early years of online publishing, Orville had the foresight to acquire the
domain name, “TheNews.org.” And The Murray State News has existed in both print and online.
The “pick up rate” of the newspaper has fallen significantly in recent years, with many leftovers
remaining in the racks every week. The click rate on the website shows traffic mostly from out
of state. (Glad our alumni keep up with us.) These are signals for more change. Our students
need an app in order to extend the reach of The Murray State News. They need to work with a
publication model that they will experience their careers. “Digital First” is a term increasingly
used in the newspaper business. It’s not news anymore if the content is about what happened
last week.
We asked Orville about previous changes at The Murray News. Apparently then, as now, there was
controversy. Some people preferred to use razor knives to correct mistakes on proofs at the
lightboard. They didn’t want to use Video Display Terminals to type copy that would go to a typesetter that used lasers. Sometime later, others didn’t want to use an Apple Macintosh
computer that used pre-publication software for layout, preferring the VDTs others had
previously found so objectionable. We now have three computer labs tricked out with the
current model iMacs and Adobe software. It seems to have caught on.
In times of change, it is often comforting to remember what hasn’t changed. There is no change
to the mission of The Murray State News. The JMC department was built by the vision of its
founders: L. J. Hortin, Ray Mofield and Robert “Doc” McGaughey. Their students and
colleagues, who now serve as JMC faculty, still embrace those values. Truth, accuracy and
fairness. The important role journalism plays in a democracy. Ethics. And the press freedoms of
The Murray State News continue to be protected and respected.
“Digital First” is how media now operate. And it is our responsibility to equip our students to
thrive in this environment. To help in this effort we will yet again embrace new
technology—multimedia stories, podcasts, social media, and the realities of how media now
operate. Even when that reality includes artificial intelligence.
To help in this effort, Leigh Landini Wright has agreed to serve as adviser to student media. To
further help our students make this transition, Bob Valentine is on hand as advertising
consultant. Photographer Ed Rode is on hand as a consultant for visual storytelling. And,
importantly, Orville remains in the newsroom.
All of these team members are dedicated to helping the student staff at The Murray State News to develop their craft for publication in print and online. Student editors Jill Smith and Jakob Milani provide
leadership to a student staff that pursues and tells the stories of our campus community. They
are doing a fantastic job.
The Murray State News will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2027. There has been a lot of change during
those 100 years. And we are preparing for the next. It is and has been a forum under the
editorial control of the students who gain valuable experience as editors, writers,
photographers and sales representatives. And they will continue to do so with current
publication technologies and industry practices.
