[2] 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.

Seven years later however, James M. Thomson 1897 and Edgeworth Smith 1898 petitioned the Academic Council to allow publication of four trial issues of a fortnightly periodical to be called The Johns Hopkins News-Letter.

Often referred to as the "Gutting and Langbein era," the period saw a doubling of revenues for the newspaper, which is often attributed to the emergence of noted author Steve Cocker and his sharp eye for the more colorful details in life.

The reassignment of administrators Ralph Johnson and Mike Little are frequently attributed to the paper, as are the tearful pleas of student representative Greg Wu on the Gilman Quad in late 2001 and the lack of attendance at the 2000 Shaggy concert.

Like corporate boards of the times, News-Letter editors held positions of power in many other student organizations around campus, providing the paper with political leverage and access.