Sidelines focuses much of its coverage on campus-related news but does report on current events involving the Middle Tennessee area. Reports on student government and athletics have dominated the paper since its origins. While under the supervision of the Public Relations office for many years, the paper's content is now under the control of its editorial staff. The paper's tone is also closer to
the objectivity expected from a major newspaper. However, the articles in a current issue of Sidelines are often remarkably similar to those of an issue from 40 years ago. A 1951 issue featured a complaint about the lack of student involvement in the Associated Student Body. Many issues from the 1970s had articles debating allowing alcohol on campus and the legalization of ma*****na. The Greenland Drive parking lot and the possibility of cable television in dorm rooms were first mentioned in the early 1980s. An editor in the Sept. 26, 1940, issue of Sidelines bemoaned the lack of student involvement in the paper. Another column from that period suggests that the best time to write an article is at 2 a.m., a situation familiar to any past or present staff member. While "the more things change, the more they stay the same," is a cliché, it has more than a note of truth when applied to the newspaper and its relationship to the campus community. A number of locally and nationally known figures have worked for the paper in the past. The newsrooms of The Tennessean and The Daily News Journal are filled with Sidelines alumni. Long-time state Rep. John Bragg and award-winning WTVF-Channel 5 reporter Phil Williams were editors-in-chief, and other staffers have gone on to work for the Associated Press and USA Today. As a community news source and historical record, Sidelines has been a key part of MTSU for decades. Though often functioning with a small staff and smaller funding, the paper continues to report on the news and issues that affect our campus. (Note: much of the information in this article was obtained from The First Fifty Years, a history of MTSU by Homer Pittard.)
