Welcome to the Fall 2008 [X]press news service, a family of publications from the SF State journalism department. We offer free, nonstop coverage of our university and beyond through our weekly newspaper, monthly magazine and ever-developing website, www.xpress.sfsu.edu.

Each [X]press publication is student staffed, managed and distributed. What starts as a prerequisite to obtaining a journalism degree at this university becomes, for many, a profoundly captivating pastime.

For long-time readers of the [X]press, the changes in style and focus that come with this first issue will be expected. As a student newspaper, we deal with the challenges (and opportunities) of dramatic staff turnover every few months.

Yet to experienced and new readers alike, we hope to convey our continuing dedication to providing well-reported and relevant news to the so-called “campus audience.”

As many of you know, that audience is changing — the university is becoming younger, with more residents and more diversity. We are a new guard but, in a way, so are you.

As the semester progresses, your influence and inspiration will take our coverage in unexpected directions. Our reporters will come to know you better as a population, and some of you will come to know us better as a staff.

Sadly, it is a finite relationship — come spring, there will be an entirely new face for the [X]press family. But consider the excitement that each iteration could be the best yet… a feeling that we could be a breakout semester remembered for years to come.

We have that excitement now, and we aim to share it with you — online and in print, every day, week and month.

Stay tuned,

Eric Gneckow, editor in chief of the [X]press newspaper