Online Elsewhere Research

    Southwestern Sun   The Southwestern Sun, a print dynamo, abandoned its online publication about the time of the pandemic interruption. Long a leader in quality journalism in the state, the Sun has instead clung to print only with promises to return online soon. Its otherwise vacated site still drew 19.5k visitors each month.    

  The Skyline View   The Skyline View published 90 stories this spring, more than in previous semesters and equivalent to the pandemic semester of Spring 2020. But that was only about three-quarters of what it published during the remote semester of Spring 2021. Two-thirds of stories were campus related, but 28.9 percent were neither campus nor community related, eighth most. One in five stories (20.0 percent) were opinion stories, eighth most in the state. It ranked fifth in percentage (10.0 percent) in campus related opinion stories. Its 11 campus governance stories tied for 10 th  most. A noteworthy news story was its investigative report  “ A timeline of the tenure, investigation and trial of Ron Galatolo ,” which included an interactive timeline. Fridays were the most likely day for posts (28.9 percent) and half of all posts (50.6 percent) were made in the afternoon. It posted 43.7 percent of possible posting days. The site drew 26.2k per month, 13 th  most...

    Sierra Roundhouse     The Sierra Roundhouse is a different publication than most in the state. It is mostly an end-of-semester project for journalism students. As such it posted just nine stories for the semester over six weeks. This was just about half of most semesters.   All but one were feature stories, ranking it first in percentage of feature stories (88.9 percent). All but two were campus related. A third the stories (33.3 percent) were posted on Wednesdays in the afternoon (37.5 percent). The site drew 3.6k visitors each month.

    College of the Sequoia Campus Journal   The College of the Sequoias Campus Journal posted NO stories this spring because the college shut down the publication before the semester began because of anticipated low enrollment. But the college has pledged to restore it for the fall semester. Even with no new content the site drew 9.1 visitors each month.

  Santa Rosa Oak Leaf     The Santa Rosa Oak Leaf published 120 stories, significantly more than the three previous semesters but significantly less than the pandemic semester (Spring 2020) or the remote semester (Spring 2021). One quarter of its stories (25.0 percent) were campus sports, which was ninth highest in the state. Its 17 campus governance stories were the fourth most. It had three campus opinion stories. One of the most compelling features of the semester was “ Living in hiding ” about a Chinese refugee who   fled her home country after her landlord extorted her business and then threatened to kill her or her family if she continued to fight for it. Stories were most likely to be posted on Thursdays (28.3 percent) and Tuesdays (21.7 percent). Nearly half of stories (48.3 percent) were posted in the afternoon. The Oak Leaf posted often, posting 42.9 percent of possible days. The site drew 52.7k visitors each month, by far the most in the state.

    Santa Monica Corsair   The Santa Monica Corsair published 105 stories this spring, equivalent to each of the previous three semesters, though still behind Spring 2020 and Spring 2021. Nearly a quarter of those (n.24) either were or included photo galleries, ranking the Corsair third in use of multimedia; it is by far the most frequent user of photo galleries. It is most fond of photographing and/or reporting protests in downtown LA.   There were few opinion stories and no campus opinion stories. There were four campus governance stories. One of its most entertaining stories was a satire: “ A new Texas decalogue ,” though it was not identified as satire, at least online. Thursdays were the most popular posting days (35.2 percent) and half the posts (50.0 percent) were made in the evening. The Corsair posted stories 44.6 percent of possible days, or three-plus days per week. The site drew 276k visitors each month, ninth most.  

 Santa Barbara Channels   Santa Barbara Channels was the leader of the pack when it came to covering campus governance. From trustees, to senates, to unions, its 20 campus governance stories ranked most in the state. The publication posted 143 stories for the semester, eighth most. But it is still more than 100 fewer than the pandemic semester of Spring 2020 and even more than the remote semester of Spring 2021. Its eight campus opinion stories were eighth most in the state. A quarter of its stories were feature stories and an excellent example of engaging readers in features was found in its “  New “Raíces” coordinator plans to bring inspiration to students ” story. Fridays (42 percent) and Mondays (31.5 percent) were the favorite posting days. Four out of five stories (81.8 percent) were posted in the afternoon. Posts were made three or more days a week (44.9 percent) on average. The site drew 31.8k visitors each month, fourth most. The Channels, it might be noted, is p...