Article: Papered Over

"Biblical truth-telling at college newspapers can sometimes conflict with the way administrators want to portray the school. Here's a case study of how Liberty University handled the tension last spring"

Excerpt from "Papered Over" published in WORLD magazine:

"Liberty University junior Jack Panyard rejoiced on March 16 when newspaper adviser Deborah Huff told him he would be 2018-19 editor-in-chief of the weekly Liberty Champion—circulation 16,000.

For Panyard and the 15 other under-grad students on the college newspaper staff , the Champion was a beloved part of their daily lives. They hustled to the newspaper office between classes to write, edit, or just hang out. They spent weekends there. Panyard kept textbooks in the office and extra clothes in his desk in case he had to work through the night.

Despite some tension, the Champion staff had had a good year. Many of them studied together, watched movies together, and occasionally played the keyboard in copy editor Sarah Jackson’s house. They went out to eat at Shanghai Express, a Chinese restaurant Panyard described as “cheap and fatty,” and took trips together to tour Charlottesville, Roanoke, and Washington, D.C.

In the fall of 2017, assistant news editor Erin Covey told the group she had never been to a haunted house, so they went to Scaremare, Liberty’s evangelistic version. Just before Christmas, newspaper adviser Huff hosted a staff party. Early in 2018, Covey, editor-in-chief William Young, and news editor Panyard won first place for headline writing in the Virginia Press Association’s news and editorial contest. Young placed first in column writing.

The Champion office on the first floor of Green Hall was the staffers’ clubhouse. At first glance, the desks and gray carpet gave it a crisp, no-nonsense feel, but a whiteboard exhibited inside jokes, bulletin boards above the desks displayed pictures, and foam cups, open folders, and stray sheets of paper covered the desktops. One floor up sat the office of Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr."

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