What Kind of Stories Does The Utah Statesman Cover?
Updated
The Utah Statesman (usustatesman.com) is Utah State University's student newspaper, and its coverage centers on campus life at USU: university news, student-oriented features, arts and culture around campus, local business and community stories, and opinion content. If you want to know what the paper actually publishes, the clearest signal is its homepage, which leads with student-relevant stories rather than broad national news.
Campus News and Student Life
The paper's core beat is USU itself. That means stories about what is happening on and around campus and how it affects students — events, university decisions, and the day-to-day life of the student body. The homepage framing ("USU's Student Newspaper") and its featured-story layout both point to this as the primary focus.
Arts, Culture and Campus Events
Culture coverage tends to follow campus programming. A concrete example from the site is the featured story "'The Lake' screening sparks discussion among USU students" — a report on a film screening and the student conversation it generated. This illustrates the typical shape of the paper's arts coverage: an event happens on or near campus, students react, and the Statesman reports on both the event and the discussion.
What this tells you as a reader
- Expect coverage of screenings, performances, and other campus cultural events.
- Expect student voices and reactions to be part of the story, not just a listing of what happened.
- If you are looking for reviews or previews of local arts programming, this is the section to check.
Local Business and Community Stories
The Statesman also covers local business news with a student angle. The homepage features "Prodigy Brewing adds new 'Aggie Lager' drink" — a story about a local brewery releasing a drink tied to the university's "Aggie" identity. Stories like this connect the campus community to the surrounding town and are useful if you want to know what local businesses are doing that intersects with student life.
Student-Oriented Features and Opinion
Beyond straight news, the paper carries features written for students and opinion content. The site's navigation includes secondary sections alongside the main news feed, and the featured-story format is used for pieces that are more discussion-driven than breaking news — the film-screening story being a good example of a feature built around student debate.
How to Decide If It's the Right Source for You
| If you want… | The Statesman is… |
|---|---|
| USU campus news and student life | A direct, student-produced source |
| Coverage of campus arts and events | Useful, especially for student reactions |
| Local business news with a university tie-in | Occasionally covered, as with the Aggie Lager story |
| National or international news | Not the focus — look elsewhere |
| Opinion and student perspective | Part of the mix |
The site also offers a subscription link ("Subscribe!") in its navigation, so ongoing access and any subscription terms should be checked on that page rather than assumed.
A Practical Way to Use the Site
- Start on the homepage, where the featured stories show what the paper considers most important right now.
- Use the navigation sections to move from general news into specific areas such as arts or opinion.
- Open a full story via the "Read Full Story" link on featured items to get past the excerpt.
- Check the subscribe page if you want regular access rather than one-off reading.
The main thing to expect: this is a student publication, so its value is in campus-level detail and student perspective — not in being a general-purpose news outlet.