What is The Broadside at thebroadsideonline.com?
Updated
The Broadside is the student news site of Central Oregon Community College (COCC). It publishes campus and community news, opinion columns, and featured stories written by student contributors, editors, and staff reporters. It is an online student publication rather than a general commercial news outlet, so it is most useful if you want COCC-related coverage, student perspectives, or community stories from Central Oregon.
Who runs it
The site identifies itself as "The Student News Site of Central Oregon Community College." Its content is produced by people with student-newsroom roles, including:
- Contributors
- Editors
- Staff reporters
- Columnists
Byline examples from the site include Lindsey Spakousky (Contributor), Madeline Bell (Editor), Ray Randall (Editor), Dylan Piazza (Staff reporter), and Atticus King (Staff reporter). This tells you the publication is not a professional wire service or a national news desk; it is a student-run outlet tied to COCC.
What it publishes
The Broadside covers a mix of campus life, community events, opinion, and feature writing. From the available page evidence, the content falls into a few recognizable categories:
| Category | Example from the site |
|---|---|
| Campus and community news | "COCC rides the radio waves" — a story about a KPOV radio DJ class offered through COCC |
| Community events | "Fun on wheels" |
| Opinion | "Opinion: it could be worse" |
| Student life | "Students find peace through meditation and prayer" |
| Featured columns | "Echoes of Oz" by Atticus King |
| College and community events | "Resilience in an AI future" — coverage of the COCC job fair |
The KPOV story illustrates the typical scope: a local radio station offers a "Be a DJ" class through COCC in spring and fall, open to the community, with a Saturday morning lecture and an evening session at the station. That is the kind of hyper-local, COCC-connected topic the site is built around.
When it is worth reading or citing
Use The Broadside when you need:
- Student-written coverage of COCC and Central Oregon community topics
- Campus event information or student perspectives
- Examples of student journalism, opinion writing, or feature columns
Be cautious about using it as a source for:
- National or international news
- Professional editorial standards you would expect from a commercial outlet
- Topics outside COCC and the surrounding community
Because it is a student publication, treat its articles as student work. For academic citation, check with your instructor or style guide about whether student news sites are acceptable sources. For general reading, it is a reasonable way to follow COCC campus life and local community stories.
Practical notes
- The site is in English (en-US).
- It shows a "subscribe" signal, but the available evidence does not specify pricing, login requirements, or whether access is free. Do not assume it is free or paid without checking the site directly.
- Content is dated, with visible publication dates such as June 2026, so you can judge how current a story is.
- If you need to contact or verify something, look for the byline and role (contributor, editor, staff reporter) to understand who wrote it and in what capacity.