The Emory Wheel is the independent, student-run newspaper at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The Wheel is published every other week on Wednesday during the regular school year, and is updated daily on its website. The sections of the Wheel include News, Opinion, Sports, Arts & Entertainment, Emory Life and Multimedia. The paper also produces The Hub, an award-winning quarterly magazine founded in 2005. Serving the Emory community since 1919, the Wheel is editorially and financially independent from the University. The staff is composed entirely of students. The Wheel offices are currently located in the Alumni Memorial University Center (AMUC).
History
Origins
The Emory Wheel began in 1919 as a weekly newspaper with its offices located in the journalism department. The name is wordplay on an emery wheel, a sharpening device. An editorial published in the first issue of The Wheel explains that the newspaper will strive to sharpen the intellect of the University community.
The newspaper, initially chartered by the Student Government Association, was originally meant to promote Emory's varsity level athletics and successfully lobbied to create an Emory track team.
Controversies
In the spring of 1970, a schism developed on the staff of the Wheel over the disputed election of Steve Johnson as editor. At that time the Wheel was being published twice a week. A competing newspaper was created, The Emory New Times. Both student newspapers were then published once weekly. J. Randolph Bugg, the losing candidate in the election for Wheel Editor, became the first editor of the New Times. After several years (and the graduation of all the aggrieved parties), the newspapers merged. For a while the publication was known as The Emory Wheel and New Times In 1975, during the editorship of Brenda Mooney, the "New Times" was dropped and the publication returned to its original name, "The Emory Wheel."
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In October 2005, Wheel General Manager Eileen Smith of seven years[1] resigned amid controversy and animosity between the Wheel staff members and the University's Division of Campus Life. The Wheel Editorial Board maintained that Smith was pressured to resign by disapproving Campus Life administrators — a violation of the newspaper's independence from the University. Campus Life declined to comment. Smith signed an agreement not to discuss her resignation.
Modernization
In the spring of 2015, facing a changing media landscape, the Editorial Board moved to completely overhaul the paper's internal structures, design and content schedule. The paper changed to become a weekly print publication with a focus on producing daily online content.[2] The Wheel itself changed from a broadsheet design to tabloid-sized news magazine. In addition to new branding and a revamped social media presence, the paper launched a new website. The board also formed new video and digital teams to assist the Wheel in its transition to a modern-day media publication. In 2016, the Wheel changed back to a broadsheet design.
The editorial board
The Emory Wheel redefined[3] the structure of its editorial board in a constitutional amendment in the spring of 2016. Under the amendment, the new editorial board will consist of the editor-in-chief and members of the Emory community who will debate and develop the paper's official stance on local and national issues. The new editorial structure allowed the Wheel to divide its news coverage and opinion writing. The change was proposed after the paper's coverage of the 2016 on-campus pro-Trump chalkings, during which the editor-in-chief "cut out all those who had touched the story" from participating in editorial discussions to maintain credibility and neutrality.
Circulation and distribution
The Emory Wheel prints 3,500 copies of the paper that are distributed throughout the main campus and surrounding areas.[4] The newspaper's website, emorywheel.com, has all content available for free, electronic versions of the paper copies.
