Six candidates for the top positions in five of N.C. State’s Student Media Authority’s organizations established their goals and answered questions in the “Meet the Candidates” forum hosted by Student Media in the Talley Ballroom Tuesday night.

The floor was open to questions from the small public audience, and candidates fielded questions from Patrick Cleary, a senior in chemical engineering and a member of the SMA Board, who mediated the forum.

“I love the work,” Lauren Gould, a junior in creative writing and literary editor for Windhover literary magazine, said when asked why she was seeking the editor position for Windhover.

She specified her goal if elected would be to expand the staff and to “continue to make Windhover a collaborative effort.”

Success, she said, would include “putting together a great team” and branching out of the traditional writing and design majors among the staff.

Brian Ware, a junior in communication and a program director for WKNC, said the station needed to “get an accurate representation of what students want to hear,” and added that if elected to general manager for WKNC he would like to increase local bands’ airtime.

He also said he wanted to see the station become more popular among students by “having people realize we have a wide range of music.”

Cynthia Rouf, the candidate for editor of the Agromeck, said the biggest challenges to the publication are staff retention and having stable leadership.

She said she would want the staff “to know they are working for a product, not an editor,” and she would let the section editors “do their job.”

Rouf, a junior in zoology, also outlined an issue common to the Agromeck, Windhover and WKNC — that of publicity.

“We did well with publicity this semester,” she said, but added if elected she would like to add a section of staff “to work on promotion, and only promotion.”

Sade Graves and Keitris Weathersbe are running for the office of editor in chief for Nubian Message.

Graves, a sophomore in communication, said she wanted to see a decrease in the number errors and an increase in the objectivity of the writing, as well as “improving photo quality and incorporating AP Style.”

She defined success as “walking into a classroom and seeing students with [Nubian Message] open, seeing copies of it left in the library … hearing students talk about it; ask for more copies.”

Weathersbe, a junior in communication and the current editor in chief, said she wanted Nubian Message to be “full color with no errors,” and it should have “a staff willing to work.”

“I want to graduate knowing [it has] come far from last year,” she said.

Tyler Dukes, the candidate for editor in chief of Technician, specified one of his major goals was to increase the credibility of the paper, a goal echoed by both candidates for Nubian Message position.

Recruitment and retention of staff was also a goal for Dukes, a junior in science, technology, and society. He said he intended to continue and improve this semester’s recruitment strategy, as well as to try a new source.

“We have a new target — the First Year College,” he said. “Freshmen can stay with us for four years.”

The three candidates within print media agreed training was a core issue and asserted cooperation between Nubian Message and Technician would aid both publications.

“We’re different publications, but we’re in the same media family,” Graves said.

It was recommended that the editors of Nubian Message, Technician and Agromeck “pool their resources and collaborate” to reach their separate but similar goals. Each candidate also expressed commitment to improving production schedules to avoid missing deadlines.

Weathersbe expressed the overall message from each candidate with, “Progress has been made and there’s work to be done — and I can do that next year.”

The Student Media Board will meet March 1 at 5 p.m. in 4211 Broughton Hall in one more chance for the public to meet and question the candidates before the Board will vote in a closed session. Students are encouraged to visit the Student Media Authority Web site at www.ncsu.edu/sma for more information.