Photo by Elizabeth Humphreys
There’s a new torchbearer for student media at Virginia Commonwealth University. Allison Dyche, 37, started in August as head of the VCU Student Media Center, where she replaced Greg Weatherford. Here, Dyche talks about the changing media landscape and the future of the student press.
Richmond magazine: What was your first journalism job?
Allison Dyche: I was working at the Savannah Morning News. I started off as a news assistant there. I became a full reporter about two years in and started covering an entire county. I did city government, county government, education, business, cops, breaking news and features … It was the town I grew up in, so I was covering my old high school principal, so it was a little weird, sometimes, because I’d anger people and then I’d be like, “Well, I’ve known you forever. How can you be mad at me right now? My mom works with you!”
RM: What do you view as the biggest challenge facing student media?
Dyche: Definitely innovation and progress. Students get stuck in the rut of “This is always how we’ve done it.”
RM: Do you view the role of student media as different than it was five or 10 years ago?
Dyche: A lot of students don’t recognize the power that the press has. I always use the Spider-Man quote: “With great power comes great responsibility.” … Student media is supposed to be the student voice of the whole university and reflective of everyone. They need to hold the administration to a certain standard and be independent from the university. It’s not just the PR arm. The core has stayed the same. But some of it has changed.
RM: Where do you see student media in 10 years?
Dyche: Hopefully still existing! (Laughs.) I don’t know, people said almost 10 years ago that print was going to be completely dead. It’s still here and it’s still viable. … Student media will still be around in a decade. It may move more toward a digital format just for cost effectiveness because printing is not cheap by any means. We’ve got to figure out different ways to bring in money and still keep it viable.
