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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Editor Speaks Out: Erratic reporting doesn’t cut it

When I first came to Quinnipiac I was very excited to get involved. I had always envied my brother who had a three page resume filled with extracurricular activities and organizations he was a part of so when I got to college I decided to take action.

This year I took on another role as the editor of the Beyond the Quad section of The Chronicle. I have to admit I was a little nervous, but I was up for the challenge.

My first weeks were decent. I managed to fill my pages, add colorful pictures and generally I was pretty happy with my work. Then, the stress headaches came. Every Saturday night. Every weekend I began to worry if my writers were going to come through for me. I wasn’t feeling so successful anymore. We got pages of names from the Organization Showcase; dozens of eager new journalists. What happened? Where did they go? I’m very curious where all the enthusiasm went.

However, my real dilemma is not really getting my stories covered. My problem is how inconsistent the writing is. Now, by saying this, my few writers will probably boycott me and I will have to write every article myself until I graduate, but I’m just curious and hope that somehow my puzzlement will be put to rest.

Most of the students that write for my section are journalism majors. This fact cannot be argued. Yet, after agreeing to write articles, Sunday morning rolls around and there are no articles to be found! Maybe this is just my frustration speaking or maybe it’s because I have been having too many sleepless Saturday nights worrying about what will or won’t be in my inbox the following morning.

Like Erin, I too am very involved at Quinnipiac and am always running around. One of my biggest responsibilities is serving as the Life/Styles Editor for The Chronicle. I began writing for the paper because I thought it would be cool to see my name in print and I liked to write. I never thought that working for the paper would lead me to so many great opportunities like interning at The Connecticut Post or freelancing for CTNow.com. Many students look down on the school’s newspaper but it has helped me gain real-world experience.

I, too, have a problem with getting writers to author stories for my pages and am curious why students have such a lack of interest in the goings-on of their campus? I see no reason why when our Communications schools is one of the most prestigious in the country, it is like pulling teeth each week to get even two articles written and handed in by deadline. Now don’t get me wrong. My e-mail distribution list is a mile long with eager students who thought it would be fun to sign up at the involvement fair and then when it actually comes time to deliver all the sudden forgot what it is that they signed up for. If you want to get a good job these days you need to pull out every trick in the book. Having a solid collection of clips and a decent set of communication skills to display to prospective employers is base-level stuff. I fear that when many of the students in the School of Communications graduate they are going to have quite a disturbing slap in the face by the professional world. For those of you who do write for my section and for the rest of the newspaper, I commend you for your hard work and dedication and I thank you for making my life and the lives of the rest of the editorial staff just a little bit easier. For the rest of you, instead of writing bank checks write yourself a reality check and get moving.

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