We’re at a crossroads.
Journalism is consistently being attacked for lacking integrity. News is fake when it isn’t what one wants to hear. Some argue that the state of news itself is one facing eminent failure; that the First Amendment is at risk for being silenced.
The Tom Tom doesn’t agree.
We can’t agree and we won’t agree. For us, journalism isn’t dead. It doesn’t matter what organization questions whether or not “The Fourth Estate” matters or that journalism needs to fact check. And it doesn’t matter who steps into office as the leader of this nation.
It doesn’t matter to us because what matters is GOOD JOURNALISM. We stand by the belief that journalism is an agent of change and we will never give up that belief. Because of this, we’ve done two things: rewrote our mission statement and rebranded our One Sequoit project.
To start, we’ve provided our new mission statement. We believe it is the most accurate representation of our organization and our undying passion to exercise our rights to make our community the best it can be. It reflects our motto of giving voices to the voiceless, and it challenges our readers to think critically about who they are and gain a new level of tolerance for the world around them.
The Tom Tom seeks to not only be the premier source of student news, sports and lifestyles at Antioch Community High School, but it also aspires to do so with integrity, respect, responsibility and pride. The Tom Tom believes wholeheartedly in giving voices to the voiceless through unique engaging methods of storytelling, while engaging with the Antioch community to see diverse and challenging perspectives. In doing so, we choose to tell some of the more challenging or untold stories even when they can be controversial in order to make our community stronger, more caring, and more tolerant. This program envisions a holistic experience of quality journalism through print publications and digital content, as well as promotes student spirit and school culture through innovative and inspiring public relations and advertising campaigns.
We are the Tom Tom. We are originals. It would be an awfully big adventure if you choose to come along with us and work as one community, One Sequoit.
As a result of rewriting our mission statement, we’ve decided to rebrand one of standard stories: One Sequoit. In this “new era of news media,” we want to shed light on the people that are the movers and shakers in our community. We want to honor the originals. And we want to show respect to the students at ACHS who make us a better version of us each and every day.
The new One Sequoit campaign is about challenging ourselves and the community to make a difference and to make it matter. Each One Sequoit will include a photo shoot and an accompanying video detailing a student’s journey to making a difference in our school or community. The campaign will appear in a magazine, on social media, and digitally in Sequoitmedia.com. These campaigns are meant to bring our community together and inspire greatness. They’re meant to inspire respectful, responsible and proud Sequoits.
To kickoff the campaign, our staff participated in one of these new photo shoots. The photos are included in this post, on our Tom Tom social media accounts and on our personal accounts. Our One Sequoit is that we give voices to the voiceless; our challenge is see if you can too.
Our promise is to produce quality journalism. We hope you promise to go on this journey with us to maintain it.
