What Is The Northerner and What Kind of News Does It Cover?
Updated
The Northerner (thenortherner.com) is the independent student newspaper of Northern Kentucky University (NKU). It publishes campus-centered reporting alongside regional political coverage, with sections for News, Sports, and Arts & Life. Content is produced by student staff reporters and editors, whose bylines and roles appear on individual articles.
What the site covers
The homepage shows the publication's range across three main areas:
- News — campus events and regional politics. Recent examples include a presidential rally at NKU's Truist Arena, a counter-rally by Democrat Melissa Strange, Ohio's gubernatorial race, Ohio's voter ID amendment, absentee and mail-in voting rules, and prediction markets ahead of the midterms.
- Sports — NKU Norse teams, mostly Horizon League play. Examples include men's soccer's 1-1 draw with Wright State, women's soccer's 7-0 win over Purdue Fort Wayne, and women's volleyball sweeps of Purdue Fort Wayne and Milwaukee.
- Arts & Life — campus culture and student life. Examples include the 13th annual Big Pink Volleyball fundraiser during Greek Week, the Live at the Loch amphitheater event run by Norse Code Radio, and a feature on costume work for SOTA stage productions.
Who writes it
Articles carry student bylines with staff roles, such as staff reporter, sports editor, managing editor, news reporter, and arts and life editor. The publication describes itself as independent and student-run.
When it's useful to you
- Prospective or current NKU students and families who want a sense of campus life, events, and student activities.
- Readers following Northern Kentucky and Ohio Valley politics who want student-reported coverage of local races, voting rules, and campus visits by political figures.
- Anyone tracking NKU athletics at the Horizon League level.
- Student journalists or media researchers studying how a student newsroom organizes its sections and beats.
What to keep in mind
The coverage is student-produced and campus-focused, so treat it as a window into NKU and its surrounding region rather than a national news source. For topics like voting rules or election dates, verify details against official state or county election sources before acting on them. The site lists Stripe among its payment platforms, which suggests some form of paid transaction is possible, but the available information does not specify subscription prices or whether any content sits behind a paywall—check the site directly if access terms matter to you.
To start, open thenortherner.com and use the section navigation (News, Sports, Arts & Life) or "View All" links to browse by topic.