Contributing to The Tech

The Tech has a number of writing departments (News, Opinion, Arts, Campus Life, and Sports) as well as a few non-writing departments (Photography, Production, Business, and Technology). You're welcome to become involved in any of these departments, or mix and match. To get started, simply e-mail tt-join@mit.edu telling us who you are and what you're interested in doing.

News: If you're interested in interviewing people and doing some reporting, this is the department for you! We'd like to think that we cover interesting stories that the MIT community wouldn't hear about otherwise. Occasionally, we even break news that other, larger newspapers will pick up. (For example, Government Declares Some Grad Students Are 'Security Threats' was picked up by the New York Times.)

Opinion: Includes MIT topics and current events. Over the years, our Opinion section has been an important forum for campus discussion, though lately we've had a shortage of steady columnists. If you're interested in this department, we would love to have you.

Arts: Mostly reviews of movies, exhibits, concerts, albums, books, and restaurants. We also publish interviews with actors, authors, etc., and we may be able to set up those kinds of interviews through our press contacts if you're interested. (And we'll reimburse your movie ticket or restaurant tab!)

Campus Life: Currently includes first-person columns about almost any topic. This section is ever-changing and pretty flexible, so we'd love to hear your ideas on how to make it more interesting and compelling. Cartoonists are also a part of the Campus Life Department.

Science: We cover recent discoveries from MIT and around the world, as well as student perspectives and experiences in science. You can gain access to pre-print research, special talks, and expert perspectives. If you're interested, don't worry about your level of experience -- we have resources & mentors to help you learn!

Sports: We cover both MIT and local sports teams. Writers are also welcome to write sports columns. It is impressive how wide an audience our columns reach; so many people with no affiliation to MIT write in letters commenting on them.

Photography: Pretty self-explanatory. We have high quality, professional digital photo equipment that you get to play with. Additionally, we have a complete functioning darkroom with the ability to process both black and white and full color.

Production: The production team is a tight-knit group that lays out the newspaper, designs infographics and makes all the other departments look good. Production is where everything gets put together to be proudly displayed to the entirety of campus the next day.

Business: The Tech is financially independent from MIT. We pay all our printing costs through advertising, which is handled by the Business Department.

Technology: The Technology Department literally keeps The Tech up and running. We have about 25 Macs that need to communicate with several servers in order to produce every issue. We're looking to automate as many things as possible in addition to constantly improving one of the first 100 sites on the World Wide Web. Most technology work can be done on your own time rather than a set schedule.

Online Media: The Online Media Department is made up of interactive designers, bloggers, videographers, social media specialists, and audiophiles. We explore new mediums of journalism and strive to bring journalism into the 21st century. We are The Tech's newest department and have a lot of freedom to take on leadership and new projects.

Copy: Copy revises all of the non-news articles for any kinds of errors to ensure that they are fit for printing. We follow the AP Style Guide, the standard for newspapers across the world. If you join Copy, you will not only help The Tech improve the quality of its articles, but also gain more experience and perspective into how to better communicate your ideas to the reader.

To become a member of the staff (i.e. be listed on the masthead and be eligible for the staff retreat, banquet, and other perks), you must write three stories (or take three photos or help out with production for three nights). The magic number is three for most of the departments. No experience is necessary with any department, we are happy to teach you all you need to know. Just e-mail tt-join@mit.edu