“Being an editor of The Paw Print – gee ya’ know, it’s a complex multitude of many wonderful, beautiful, and magical things, it’s really hard to explain. But, I’ll do my best. It’s a myriad of friends and loved ones working together as a team; it’s the satisfying feeling of a job well done.” said Assignment Editor Kevin Colbert in the January 1988 issue of The Paw Print. 

Kevin Colbert, Green High graduate from the class of 1988, reflected on his time as a high school journalism student. 

“It started as the pet project [The Paw Print Newspaper] for Mrs. Elaine Miller’s Journalism class. It was her baby. Students in the class were able to request various roles to take on as staff members and I seem to remember that we were eventually elected into those roles via classroom vote.” said Colbert.

Journalism was a new course offered at Green. As mentioned in the cover article, the journalism classes brought in 47 students, which eventually led to a large newspaper production staff. Colbert stated that his role was an assignment editor; however, he went on “to fill a more staff writer/cartoonist/advertising position.” Referring to 20th century editions of The Paw Print, the focus on intriguing cartoons and advertisements is an element that is missing from today’s Paw Print. 

While discussing differences between Paw Print past and present, it’s imperative to note the distinction between interests in print media. In the 80s, newspapers were the most popular form of media. Not only were adults compelled by news, but the youth seemed to care more back then too. 

When Colbert was asked about working as a journalist in the 1980s, he said, “It was a blast. Keep in mind, at the time there was no access to internet, mobile communication or social media of any kind. So having a voice and an audience with a school newspaper was really the only source for outward expression of creativity and ideas on that level. One good example: 1988 was an election year and a classmate of mine, Ray Geis, and I were given the freedom to write opinion pieces on it and eventually had the Paw Print endorse George HW Bush for president. As you can imagine, that riled up a fair amount of teachers and administrators and resulted in more than a few impromptu hallway debates, haha. It was great!”

Journalism is changing. It’s always changing. Mass communication performs its best tricks through a cell phone these days. Present day Paw Print must keep up with these modifying tactics. But, Paw Print past could concentrate solely on their monthly print release. As many are quick to critique modern journalism, they often don’t realize the increasing difficulties this industry faces as well.

“I think bias has always been a real problem. But I think now we’re at the point where bias in journalism is epidemic. It’s to be expected. Journalists as a whole aren’t viewed as trustworthy by the public. I think this current, epidemic level of bias probably started with the advent of the 24-hour news cycle which relies on TV ratings to drive ad revenue, so there’s more emphasis on being the first to report something or to make it entertaining. And that was followed by digital news outlets that rely on clicks and views to generate their ad revenue, so they do the same things. And then you add in the extreme political division in the country right now and it’s just opened itself up to all kinds of corruption and reckless abandonment of what it truly means to be a journalist.” said Colbert on the current decline of journalism. 

Kevin Colbert’s place in communications only grew after his debut on The Paw Print. After his high school graduation, he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in advertising from Kent State University. Now, Colbert has his own advertising and marketing agency, Colbert Advertising.

“The Paw Print was absolutely the beginning of that career path. If not for that journalism class, my work with the Paw Print, and even some recommendations from Mrs. Miller, I may not have got it all figured out like I did. The experience as a whole is what really got me to notice my affinity for business, mass communication and creativity – all of which are key components of advertising.”   

To finish the interview, Colbert was asked what made The Paw Print special. 

He said, “Our primary goal was to come up with content that, hopefully, our classmates would find interesting.” 

Colbert continued to reminisce about routine articles to review music and editorial content that related to current controversies concerning GHS. Some things at The Paw Print never change.