E-town NOW regularly publishes relevant and timely news, feature and multimedia stories about Elizabethtown College. It is a stand-alone, online news publication run by the Office of Marketing and Communications, and debuted in August 2013.

This website was created as an interactive venue for us to tell the Elizabethtown College story. In essence, we’ve become our own media outlet. New, original content is published almost daily in a variety of formats and categories during the regular academic year, and less frequently during the summer months. E-town NOW believes that news, today, is about conversations and, for that reason, we greatly encourage user participation through social sharing and commenting.

E-town NOW is managed by the Office of Marketing and Communications. To learn more about the editorial staff, visit the Our Staff Page. General inquiries can be sent to now@etown.edu.

Below, you will find editorial guidelines, an overview of the content we publish and more.

Editorial Guidelines

E-town NOW has established editorial guidelines to provide our readers with a clear idea of what can be expected from this dynamic, online news publication.

Our audience includes the current campus community (current students, faculty and staff), alumni, parents and family members, retired staff and faculty members, friends of the College, peer institutions and the media—it is important that our content take into consideration our broad and varied audience.

E-town NOW welcomes story ideas from the campus community and general public; however, the editors and staff writers of E-town NOW are responsible for all decisions concerning the content of this website. Our editorial decisions are based on several factors including:

  • a desire to offer our readers newsworthy and engaging articles that have broad appeal
  • a commitment to providing balanced and timely content
  • a respect to the College’s Strategic Plan, history, mission and values
  • a dedication to journalistic integrity
  • an emphasis on the reader experience, which means an understanding of web usability and social media best practices
  • a regular analysis of data which informs us how our readers interact with us, and tells us what content works and what does not

It is important to recognize that the statements and opinions expressed by individuals in stories—either the writes or those interviewed—do not officially represent the College as a whole.

Style
All official College editorial-based publications refer to The Associated Press Stylebook and the Elizabethtown College Editorial Style Guide as primary reference tools for editing and naming conventions. In some cases, such as in headlines and subheadlines, liberties are taken for the sake of creativity.

Tone
Going along with its editorial vision of having broad appeal, E-town NOW has adopted a conversational, friendly tone. We want this to be a fun and informative publication.

 

What We Publish: Overview of our Content

NEWS
E-town NOW is broken into five distinct news departments, listed and described below. News stories typically run 200 to 500 words, and it is possible that a news story might overlap in two categories.

Academics & Research
Stories about faculty research and publications, courses, programs, and classroom technology and innovations.

Real-World Learning
Coverage of student-centered stories involving our five Signature Learning Experiences: internships, international experience, community-based learning, student-faculty research and capstone projects.

Campus & Community
Showcases general stories about our people and campus.

Arts & Culture
Highlights of campus performances, presentations and productions, or stories about Elizabethtown College performers or speakers appearing elsewhere.

FEATURES & PROFILES

Our Features & Profiles category is home to in-depth stories or extended profile pieces on a particular person or program. Features also naturally will fall under the same overarching categories as our news stories do; however, the length and style give them the features distinction. Feature stories generally run from 500 to 800 words.

E-TOWN IN THE NEWS

The local, regional and, often, national media rely on our network of faculty and staff experts to serve as sources for stories and programs. Also, many of our faculty and staff members provide their own commentary and creativity to publications near and far. Finally, we, in the Office of Marketing and Communications, often pitch stories about our campus. This category contains a semi-regular aggregate (or, round up) of links to articles, appearances and publications from other media outlets that feature people of Elizabethtown.

FORMAT

It also is worth nothing that not all stories will be the written kind. Many news stories you find here might simply be a photo and a caption, a story told through a series of photos, or a video news package.

Contact and Feedback

Ideas and Feedback

We welcome your story ideas and suggestions for E-town NOW. Please complete this submission form.

Corrections

E-town NOW tries the best it can to avoid publishing erroneous information. If you spot an error, please email now@etown.edu with the exact URL (web address) of the article in which it appears and a description of the error. If applicable, we will correct the error and then include a note in the bottom of the article that makes mention of the change.

Advertising

Our publication does not accept advertising at this time.