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School newspapers occupy an awkward niche in society; in
sharing the function of professional newspapers, all student
publications strive to be relevant, informative and interesting.
They attempt to do so by providing objective descriptions
of significant events and subjective analysis of current
issues.
First and foremost, the paper must be readily available
to all interested students. While in-school distribution
is important, most interested students will receive a copy
of the newspaper regardless. Far more important is the online
edition of the newspaper. Not only does it provide global
access, but it creates an accessible archive of the contents
of the newspaper.
However, in order to remain relevant to its readers, any
school newspaper must fulfill a fairly specific role. When
publishing information of any kind, be it subjective or
objective, it must be directly pertinent to the school and
its students. Otherwise, the publication will cease to be
relevant.
When choosing the events on which it will report, the paper
must decide carefully. If it chooses to cover events not
directly related to the school, it is in competition with
professional newspapers that are better funded and more
experienced. Unless new, unpublished information is provided,
the school newspaper will be nothing but a second-rate imitation
of its professional counterpart.
School newspapers should therefore only cover events about
which they can provide unpublished information: namely,
school events. In this role, the newspaper makes a more
significant contribution. Information is disseminated to
an extent that would otherwise not be possible. From health
and safety issues, to academic standards at alternate schools,
student newspapers have the potential to inform students
about issues of which they would otherwise be unaware. However,
they also have the potential to detract from their credibility
by sensationalizing non-issues.
Subjective articles fail to provide any real service to
their readers when choosing to discuss school-unrelated
events. There is no shortage of readily accessible published
opinions, especially on the Internet. Furthermore, students
rarely present unique insight into matters that are not
school-related. Publishing editorials on these types of
issues does little to enhance the quality of the paper and
only creates an image as being the political voice for its
editorial staff. Obvious bias only exacerbates this problem.
The real focus of student-written editorials should instead
be school-related issues. There is a very real shortage
of published opinions on local school policy. Unlike unoriginal
assessments of American foreign policy, the discussion and
debate to which these articles contribute create a unique
and desirable school culture.
School newspapers possess a unique potential that can only
be realized through careful content selection. In order
to generate, and maintain, relevance and readership, the
issues discussed and events described must be closely related
to the school and its students.
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