The Johns Hopkins News-Letter

Independent student newspaper

The Johns Hopkins News Letter is the independent student newspaper of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, U. S. Published since 1896, it is one of the nation's oldest continuously published, weekly, student run college newspapers. Before the COVID 19 pandemic, The News Letter was published every Thursday in a full color front and back page broadsheet format, and has two sections: an A section and a B section. Its total circulation was approximately 5,200, including the local campuses of Johns Hopkins, area colleges, and the greater Baltimore region. However, the newspaper's print publication has been paused due to the pandemic, but the paper continues to publish daily on its website. Several times a year, The News Letter distributes a magazine edition with 20 to 30 page tabloid sized inserts, such as Best of Baltimore, Cover Letter (introducing new students to the University), Housing Guide, Lacrosse Guide, and the Dining Guide. The editorial and business boards consist entirely of undergraduates. Members of the editorial staff are democratically elected to one year terms, while members of the business board are hired by the editors in chief. The current editors in chief are Yana Mulani and Abigail Tuschman. The News Letter won an Associated Collegiate Press Newspaper Pacemaker award for four year, non daily college newspapers in 2015, 2013, 2008, 2005, 2003, and 1995 and was a finalist for the award in 2010, 2007, and 1997. In 2020, The News Letter was one of ten student media organizations to receive funding from the Poynter Institute for a reporting project to advance civil discourse on campus. As a culmination of its efforts, The News Letter published "Examining Hopkins Hospital’s Relationship with Baltimore", a magazine that explores the University's historic role within the city of Baltimore. The News Letter is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.

The News Letter retracted its coverage of a webinar by Genevieve Briand, the assistant program director of the Applied Economics master’s degree program at Hopkins. Briand argued that there was "no evidence that COVID 19 created any excess deaths." A statement on November 26, 2020 published on social media noted that the article was "used to support false and dangerous inaccuracies about the impact of the pandemic." A day later, The News Letter published an explanation of the retraction and made the original article viewable as a PDF.