Some readers may have already noticed a change to The Pioneer.

There’s a chance you’ve felt like you’ve been waiting for new newspapers to appear on the stands, But maybe also you’ve also recently taken in a heartwarming episode of the RadiOCCC podcast or a “Tyler’s Troubles” video on the website. Things change, and so do we at the Pioneer.

The Pioneer, like so many other newspapers across the nation, has reduced the number of papers we’ll be printing and the frequency with which they will appear on stands. We have switched to biweekly publication. Fresh editions of the Pioneer will no longer be appearing on stands every Friday. We will go to print only once every two weeks for the foreseeable future.

This change comes because we, too, are adjusting to the dismal financial situation that our state budget has become, but more than anything, this change is a new opportunity.

With this change, the online segment, pioneer.occc.edu, will start to receive more attention from our readers. We are shifting our focus so we may bring you important news, information and entertainment better, faster and on a more regular basis than we ever have before.  

Readers will be able to find unique content in the printed newspaper that appears every other Friday and on the Pioneer website that will be constantly updated.

For the historical record and for the countless benefits to student journalists, the importance of the actual printed news remains.  Undeniably valuable, too, is the training we do with students on producing the types of multimedia journalism that can only appear on the web. 

The Pioneer, as a learning laboratory for OCCC students who want to go into a media field, maintains an important responsibility to expose young journalists to working and publishing online. There is little need for a journalist who can only write.

The paper and the website will remain married, of course, but they will be separate products. Each will be unique and worth checking out.

Readers will soon see more breaking news, videos, pictures, blogs and other exclusive web content. Content on the site will also come more frequently than anything we could hope to deliver on paper.

However, we still trust the staying power of tangible, printed newspapers, and we will be working harder than ever to give you the best editions we can from here on out even if there are fewer of them.

The Pioneer wants to provide the best content and to provide the best learning environment.

By switching to a biweekly schedule, we will improve the quality of both our paper and of our website, but most importantly, we will improve the quality of those passionate and hard-working student journalists we employ and who take the News Writing I classes.

During this time and through all the experimentation, the Pioneer will still be here for you. We want to tell your stories.

Contact us any time at editor@occc.edu or seniorwriter@occc.edu, or come have a cup of coffee with us in the Pioneer office (room 1F2 in the Arts and Humanities building).