As The Maneater moves to a completely-digital format, staff members worked hard to produce the final print edition – from start to finish.
Maneater staff members share what they are most excited about for the end of the semester during the last all-staff meeting outside the newsroom on Sunday, April 23. The end of the semester also marks the end of The Maneater’s print edition. According to Editor-in-Chief Anna Colletto, the student newspaper has been moving toward a fully-digital presence over the past few years. “Our audience is primarily Gen Z college students — that’s who we’re seeking to serve the most,” Colletto said. “People in that age demographic are just not getting their news physically. They’re getting their news through social media, they’re getting their news digitally.”
Michael Baniewicz photographs MU student Sadie Ramirez at the Horticulture Club’s plant sale at Speaker’s Circle for a news story on Wednesday, April 26. Baniewicz started at The Maneater in October 2022. “The first time I ever picked up a DSLR was in September,” Baniewicz said. Baniewicz was promoted to photography editor for the 2023-2024 school year. In his new leadership role, Baniewicz “look[s] forward to being able to work with a lot of raw talent,” Baniewicz said. Baniewicz’s photos have been published in both online and print editions of The Maneater.
Freshman reporter Sophia Anderson works with assistant news editor Mercy Austin to complete first-read edits in the newsroom on Wednesday, May 1. Although this month’s paper will be The Maneater’s final print edition, providing quality news remains the main focus. “It will not just be about the fact that this is our last edition,” Colletto said. “We want it to still be a real, final newspaper from The Maneater.”
Production team member and DEI Chair Gabriella Lacey looks through a copy of the very first print edition of The Maneater for inspiration on Sunday, April 30. The Maneater was first published 68 years ago in 1955 and bound copies of every edition are stored in the newsroom available to read.
Production editor Lauren Graham works on creating the MOVE section page “Best Slice” in Adobe InDesign for The Maneater’s final print edition on Sunday, April 30. The production team often worked through the day and late into the night putting together layouts for print editions.
A dry-erase board in The Maneater’s newsroom announces a production end time of 4:27 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2. The designs were completed just in time to send the finalized PDFs to Gannett Publishing Services for printing.
Copies of The Maneater’s final print edition fly through a printing press at Gannett Publishing Services in downtown Columbia on Tuesday, May 2. Sondra Hopkins, assistant manager for operations and pre-press, observed that “print overall is diminishing” – however, their operations at Gannett are “going pretty strong.”
Chad Baker runs a print registration quality check on a copy of The Maneater’s final print edition at Gannett Publishing Services, Tuesday, May 2. Quality checks are conducted throughout the newspaper’s printing process to ensure the finished product is up-to-standard.
Maneater staff members Gabriella Lacey, Mercy Austin and Piper Molins hand out copies of The Maneater’s final print edition to passersby on Thursday, May 4. They made sure to also direct students to The Maneater’s digital presence, including the newsroom’s social media accounts and newly-launched Maneater Bites newsletter.
As staff members discuss the progress of distribution, Mercy Austin collects another signature for her final copy of The Maneater on Thursday, May 4. Austin attended this month’s distribution event at Speaker’s Circle and asked staff members who were included in the final edition’s creation to sign their names in commemoration of the occasion.