BYU's student-published newspaper was first titled White and Blue, later becoming the Y News. In 1948 the title was changed to the Brigham Young Universe, and in 1956 this was updated to simply The Daily Universe. The Universe is part of a larger news organization called BYU NewsNet, which was one of the first integrated news organization in the world. The paper was printed Monday through Friday, except during school breaks and some holidays. It was distributed free of charge on BYU campus and is sent around the world to alumni and friends of the university for a small fee. On January 12, 2012, the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications announced the newspaper's move to digital. Beginning in 2012, content would continue to be published online daily, while the print newspaper would only be published once a week. In 2017, The Universe partnered with the Huffington Post on a series called Listen to America to investigate issues facing Mormon millennials. In 2020 a satirical website was launched by BYU students called The Alternate Universe, mimicking The Onion on issues related to BYU and students.
Operations
The editors, writers, photographers and copy editors are all students, some paid, some reporting for a journalism class. These students are overseen by a collection of school professors and other full-time staff, who help train students and maintain professional standards. The opinion pieces in the paper are overseen by an editorial board which includes student staff, professional staff, university professors and local professionals. Limitations on what the paper can publish has been an issue in years past with debate over content appropriate for the campus audience. One of the paper's most popular features is the letter to the editor section, which routinely becomes a forum for campus issues or ideas. Some issues are argued back and forth for weeks. Topics include parking on campus, Right v. Left politics, dating, the wearing of socks with sandals, and various mistakes stemming from the student editors' collective inexperience. Police Beat is a popular ongoing round-up of eccentric reports to campus police.
