A wise man once said, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” As I work toward a major in one of America’s soon-to-be Benjamin-less industries, I, along with several of my comrades, have had to step back and evaluate how we’re going to succeed in this industry.

As Variety editor this semester, I realize that my job is only of microcosmic proportions from the responsibilities of a national newspaper. However, I do think that we all collectively share a similar fear: What if they stop reading? Or maybe moreso, what if they stop caring?

I took a class last semester where our professor reminded us almost daily that newspapers were dying. One man’s opinion, no doubt, but there are two reasons why this could be possible:

In a world where you can press a few buttons on your cell phone, look up a YouTube video and hear a band for yourself, why would you care about a review that one of our writer’s published? If Miley Cyrus’ tween tease photos are more widely circulated than information about Russia’s role in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict, why take the time to read about it? These are both difficult questions to answer.

I’m not writing this column to accuse anyone of not reading the newspaper enough. (Although, with programs like the Collegiate Readership bins, we really have no excuse.)

I am writing this column to emphasize what the true purpose of a newspaper should be.

We are lucky that this paper is so widely distributed and has such huge readership – students and Athenians alike. Between a student population of 33,831 and metro population of 175,085, this paper has a pretty loud voice. But it shouldn’t just be the voices of our nine editors and 100+ staff writers. It should be a forum for our entire community.

If you have an idea, a goal, a rant, a rave or just a simple question to be answered, let this paper be your medium for getting that message out to our community. Since The Red & Black went independent in 1980, this publication serves as one of your only (and perhaps most powerful) venues to get what you have to say, heard. I sincerely believe that if people would utilize the power and pervasiveness of newspapers to cater towards what we individually find important and interesting, newspapers would perhaps escape their impending death.

We get a lot of criticism about the things that we publish, especially through the one-sided mirror of our Web site comment section. Although these comments often have malicious intent, it excites us that you are reading and that you care. The next step is to change what you don’t like. Have we been approaching something all wrong? Have we been neglecting an integral aspect of our community? It is your duty to help us fix these things if you feel strongly enough.

Not a writer? Why not just e-mail one of us with something you would like to be covered? I want to disband this common misconception that we are an organization of elitist Greek-hating vampires and ensure all of you that I speak for our entire staff when I say all we are craving is your input.

The Red & Black is just as much your publication as ours, so take the reigns, people! Embrace your First Amendment rights!

- Chelsea Cook is the variety editor for The Red & Black