February Beacon Review

The fourth issue was also very hard to put together, because everyone was still getting back into the swing of things after winter break and the organization was a little disjointed. This issue was a good preview of things to come. As for my role in the December issue, I worked on the article about Illinois switching to the SAT, then ultimately back to the ACT. I interviewed various people involved to get the information I needed to write the article. Each issue, like I do with DubTV, I'll break down the newspaper using a three tiered system: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

• The Teacher's Matchmaking Guide was a hit around the school, and I think the amount of effort Emma put into surveying the teachers and then matching them together should be looked upon with a high level of pride
• I really enjoyed the level of variety we had in this issue. There was everything from political opinions to top album lists, and I think the diversity of subject matter helps us appeal to a much broader audience- there really is something for everyone in this issue of the Beacon
• The Pasowicz quotes out of context were very funny once again, and somewhat ridiculous

The Bad

• There were still grammatical errors littered throughout the paper, and as we have around a month to produce each paper, we should be able to minimize, if not completely eliminate grammatical errors in future issues
• The front page articles didn't generate as much interest as did other articles throughout the paper, more time could be spent figuring out which stories have the most relevance to our reader base
• I still think we could push out more content on a monthly basis, for a class that meets 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week, we could write more high-quality articles if we spent less time on menial/useless tasks

The Ugly

• A lot of blank space surrounding the entire header, distracting for the reader and looks unprofessional
• There is a lack of professional photography, and the need for a staff photographer was made evident last week when Claire had to hurriedly take a photo using an iPhone to meet a deadline
• Only eight items in the "10 Things to Do on Valentine's Day" piece