Jamia Journal Completes Three Years!

Well, we did it people. Jamia Journal has turned three-years-old today, Oct.20, 2013; and we are continuing on, stronger than ever before.  Our growth over the last three years has been truly staggering.  Our readership in this period has grown from a few hundred page views every month to a close to 8,000 every month.

This, however, pales in comparison to the growth we’ve experienced on our facebook page. Jamia Journal’s facebook page (facebook.com/JamiaJournal) currently has approximately 3000 fans with the latest weekly reach of about 4000, and user engagement with the page approaching 1000. This means, we get half as many views on facebook in a single week as we get on our website in an entire month!

Considering the fact Jamia has a total student population of about 15,000 — we feel our reach in Jamia is pretty impressive.

However, our reach is not just limited to Jamia. For people in India and abroad, Jamia Journal serves as a window into Jamia Millia Islamia. Moreover, in the absence of a Jamia students union, for many outside Jamia, Jamia Journal is seen as the only authentic voice and representative of the Jamia student body; an image, no matter how undeserving, we take quite seriously and responsibly.

I personally, as the editor of Jamia Journal, also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our writers for their continued hard work and dedication. The site wouldn’t be what it is today without our fantastic writing staff and student contributors who continue to dedicate their time and effort in return for nothing but the pleasure of self-expression.

Of course, none of this would be possible either without you, the readers. So to you, I extend the biggest thanks of all. It’s you who keep us doing this day in and day out and as long as you keep showing up, we’re more than happy to keep providing content. Your engagement and feedback is what keeps us motivated. So remember, commenting on and sharing our stuff is the only thing we ask for in return to our free service.

It has definitely been three wonderful years for us and we’re absolutely thrilled to be where we are. But despite our exuberance, there is a touch of sadness in our hearts today.

When we started Jamia Journal back in October of 2010, the task seemed almost impossible to sustain for too long without any external support. But we naively believed if we could only prove to the Jamia community that the students of Jamia were capable of running a university newspaper on their own, then somebody from the Jamia community will come forward to lend us a helping hand. We had no students union to approach for support, so our only hope lay with the university and the alumni. But despite repeated requests to both, that helping hand never appeared. Ironically, over the past three years, we at Jamia Journal have covered several conferences and seminars held at Jamia on the need to empower the youth of India. But just like all the conferences and seminars on empowering women, minorities and the poor of India, the effort to empower has been limited to an academic discourse within conference rooms.

In closing, we once again like to tell everybody in Jamia: students, teachers, administrators, and even the alumni — Jamia Journal needs financial support to further sustain itself and operate at its full potential. Jamia Journal has the potential to be the best student newspaper in India. Just imagine the honor Jamia Millia Islamia will have if it had the best student newspaper in the country.

If you like to help us, get in touch with us. For now you can write to us at [email protected] or text us at 9650571174 (Do not call on this number. Just send an SMS with your name and a short message, and someone will call you back.)