By Michelle Hu
<[email protected]>

Dear Reader,
As you may have noticed, the HiLite you’re holding looks different than maybe you’re used to. Perhaps half different? About the middle of last semester, our staff decided to switch from a broadsheet (tall and narrow) to a tabloid (shorter and more magazine-y) format. Also, instead of publishing 14 issues per year, or every two weeks, we will publish the HiLite 10 times – about one issue a month.

These changes come at a time of rapid changes in the newspaper industry. Since January of 2008, 120 newspapers around the nation have closed down due to decreased revenue. Some of the biggest media companies are bankrupt, and some have abandoned paper altogether in favor of an online news format.

Rest assured – the HiLite will continue production; however, this is an opportune time for us to embrace the Internet more. We see more and more often people who prefer to get their breaking news immediately from their computers. And in print? The trend in readers is for in-depth coverage more typical of what you’d find in a magazine. So from now on, the HiLite will embrace both of these trends. It is now a newsmagazine, which will publish mostly in-depth stories that catch your interest and give you something to think about. The straight news stories (beats, upcoming events, administrative changes) will mostly be on the HiLite Online at www.hilite.org.

What does this mean for you? It means you’ll be getting even more of the news and information you want and need. Now, we have a Special Projects team of four editors who will work on multimedia coverage throughout the year. For example, there’s a “New Student Survival Guide” on the site right now, and hilite.org will feature videos, slideshows and quizzes to preview Homecoming in October.

In addition, the beats editor will work on putting every beat online when it is timely. So, if DECA has a call-out meeting next month and you forget the date and location, simply go to hilite.org and you should find the information you’re looking for. Or if your date is from another school and you need a Guest Form but forgot to pick one up, you’ll be able to print one out from the latest Homecoming beat.

These stories, just like in-depth articles, take up space. By publishing them online, we not only save paper but give you, the reader, an easier way to find exactly what you need. There’s a lot going on at Carmel, and it is difficult to ensure everything is in the newspaper. The Internet, in this case, allows for more coverage as events arise.

We hope these changes will increase your ability to access the news that affects Carmel High School and students like you. We want to be as accessible as possible, and we want you to ask questions or even write letters to the editor or join in on an online conversation. We hope to provide the stories you can be absorbed in and have a conversation about with your friends.

So don’t worry. While we’re changing, much remains the same of the old HiLite you have known. The HiLite is still the HiLite. Our journalistic fundamentals are still the same, and the way we write stories hasn’t changed. But with a smaller newsmagazine and expanded online coverage, we can provide you, the reader, with the best access to the news you need every day.

Michelle Hu is editor-in-chief for the HiLite.