Media Organizations
Publications
Editors at publications all over campus are constantly desperate for new talent. If you know that a sentence contains a subject, a verb and an object, you can probably find an outlet for your muse. The quality of the best writing at Princeton is quite high, as evidenced by the remarkable number of excellent writers who have graduated from the University. There is no one best outlet for writing on campus, and many writers bounce from publication to publication. However, if you dream of a career in publishing, you should probably focus on one particular organization.
The Daily Princetonian, or “The Prince,” is the only place on campus where you can experience daily journalism, either as a writer, illustrator, photographer or business person. If the daily grind is too much for you, there are also opportunities to write for Street, the weekly lifestyle supplement, or submit editorials to the Opinion section. Many excellent writers, including Frank Deford, F. Scott Fitzgerald and R.W. Apple, got their start at this paper. Either sign up at the Activities Fair during Orientation Week, or stop by the office at 48 University Place.
For the serious student journalist, there is the University Press Club. Members of the Press Club write for the Princeton Alumni Weekly, and many get gigs as paid reporters for newspapers and wire services in New Jersey, Philadelphia and the New York area, such as the New York Times, Associated Press and Trenton Times. If you're interested, look for information in September. The selection process is grueling and lasts three months, but you're sure to come out of it a better writer. And if you succeed as a candidate, the alumni connections are invaluable.
The Nassau Weekly (a.k.a. "The Nass") was founded in 1979 by a group of writers, including current New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick '81, who wanted a forum for more in-depth and hard-hitting articles than the Prince allowed. Whatever their intentions, it's now a humor magazine, and articles these days range from the eyebrow-raising to the truly profane. To get involved with the Nassau Weekly, either attend an open house or send an e-mail to one of the editors.
Tiger Magazine is Princeton's oldest extant humor magazine and the former home of F. Scott Fitzgerald and comic book legend Jim Lee. First published in 1882, Tiger lives and dies by the quality of its writers and editors, so there are always spaces available for creative minds. The editorial meetings are infamous, so even if you don't think you can write a humor piece, you may want to join just to watch.
The Princeton Tory, Progressive Nation and Idealistic Nation: what passes for literary political debate at Princeton mostly occurs on the pages of these magazines. On the political spectrum, the Tory is (very) conservative and the Progressive Nation (quite) liberal, with the Idealistic Nation somewhere left of the middle. All three magazines welcome and encourage submissions from the general student body, as either main content or letters to the editor.
Other Publications
There is a wide variety of other publications on campus that publish more sporadically. In addition to the following sampling of the list, several of the colleges also have small literary reviews and other writing opportunities.
Business Today, founded by Steve Forbes '70 while he was as an undergraduate at Princeton, is published three times a year and distributed at more than 100 colleges around the country. The writers and editors of the publication actually come from a number of different schools, although Princeton is very well represented.
The Nassau Herald and Bric-A-Brac are Princeton's yearbooks. The Nassau Herald is for the graduating class, and only contains photos of seniors. Bric-A-Brac is the companion piece, and serves as the traditional, candid-heavy, underclass yearbook. Both are distributed at cost.
Nassau Literary Review, founded as a forum for creative writing and photography on campus, publishes short fiction, poetry, photography and art.
Commonly called The New Yorker of Princeton, Green Light publishes twice a year and offers exploratory, in-depth articles along with its short fiction, poetry, art and photography pages.
American Foreign Policy focuses on . . . American foreign policy.
Prism is a literary journal that includes photography and focuses on issues of diversity.
Radio
WPRB 103.3 FM is Princeton University's student-run radio station, broadcasting classical, jazz, rock and world music programming, as well as coverage of University sporting events throughout New Jersey and into Philadelphia. The station has many opportunities for students interested in hosting a music show, play-by-play coverage of sporting events, the music industry, business management, Web design and much more.
Television
The Princeton Student Television Network (PSTN-Channel 7) recently launched and features student-produced television shows and films around the clock. The station relies on student-generated content, so there are a ton of opportunities for aspiring filmmakers, directors, producers, screenwriters and people who just plain love the entertainment industry to get involved.
