Layout
The State Press publishes newspapers every school day (Monday through Friday) and features student articles, world and national wire reports, editorials, opinions and comics, both student-drawn and syndicated.
On Tuesdays, a campus-specific front page had been produced and printed on the 500 copies of the newspaper delivered to ASU's West campus. A similar campus-specific edition was produced for the Polytechnic campus on Thursdays. Both zoned editions were launched in the fall of 2008 but suspended in February 2009 due to both the cost of the endeavor and uncertainty about the future of both outlying campuses in light of state budget cuts.
A separate staff produces State Press Magazine, which had been printed on the backside of the daily newspaper until August 2007, when it became a separate publication. In 2009, SPM became an online-only magazine, publishing daily stories and blogs that examined university issues such as current events, arts and entertainment. In spring 2011, SPM began releasing a stand-alone print issue once per semester, in addition to its daily online publication.
In November 2011, the paper moved from a traditional broadsheet format to a tabloid/compact format. Design editor Taylor Lineberger led the redesign, along with editor-in-chief Nathan Meacham. A majority of the paper is now printed in color. "We decided the paper needed a more visually striking design – one that would be more appealing to our readership. The front page will now grab your attention in a way it never has before. The paper will be easier to flip through, read and digest between classes, or on your lunch break," the editorial board wrote in a Nov. 20 editorial. "The news cycle has changed and so have your reading habits. News hits your cellphone or laptop long before you have the chance to pick up The State Press on campus. That’s why we created a product that speaks more to the college experience – a product that ties traditional print news to new forms of digital media."
The paper's staff uses Macintosh computers. Stories are written in Microsoft Word, and pages are laid out in Adobe InDesign.
From the late 1990s through May 2009, the online edition of the newspaper was the ASU Web Devil, which served as a portal to all Student Media Web sites. By June 2009, the other Student Media properties – Sun Devil Television and State Press Magazine – had launched their own Web sites hosted separately from the Web Devil, so the site was rebranded as StatePress.com, returning to the URL used for the site in the 1990s.
In addition, a spoof edition of the daily paper, The Stale Mess, is published at the end of each semester by the State Press staff.
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