By Tena Thau
From daily morning announcements to our very own literary magazine, a wide variety of print and media publications are available here at B-CC. But while all of these publications are high-quality, one news source outshines all others: The Tattler. In print and, now, online, B-CC’s student-run newspaper has been exuding excellence since 1927. And although other B-CC publications will never match the greatness of the school newspaper, we here at The Tattler would like to offer a few suggestions to aid our well-intentioned inferiors.
Wake-Up-B-CC combines expert video editing, well-written scripts, and a touch of humor, to bring us daily morning news with a twist. Energized by a talented and enthusiastic group of student anchors, Wake-Up is infinitely better than the old method of announcing morning news over the intercom.
The Problem: While The Tattler’s pages can be perused at a reader’s leisure, Wake-Up-B-CC viewers are effectively forced to watch this daily broadcast. Some students miss out on the morning announcements altogether, because their first-period teachers are unwilling to squander five minutes of class time, every day. Finally, while Wake-Up-B-CC is admittedly entertaining, many would question the educational value of a five minute segment on “What’s on your iPod?”
The Proposal: Cut Wake-Up-B-CC to a minute a day. It should only cover important announcements that directly affect a large portion of the student body. In addition, Wake-Up should air at the beginning of first period. If it continues to air near the end of first-period, there will always be that awkward minute-and-a-half left over after Wake-Up-BCC ends – too early to end class, but too late to resume instruction.
Alternatively, if producers insist on keeping soft news segments (such as favorite iPod music), Wake-Up-B-CC could start right before the school day begins. It would give students a good motivation to get to school early and wouldn’t interfere with instructional time.
The Yearbook is a timeless keepsake that preserves our high school memories.
The Problem: Priced at $80, the yearbook is the most expensive B-CC publication by far, and is utterly unaffordable for many students.
The Proposal: To cut costs, the yearbook’s content should be limited to student photos and club photos. Page-long stories are better left to the more writing-inclined Tattler staff. Additional photographs are not needed because of the plethora of pictures available to us on Facebook – where users have the added advantage of “untagging” a photo they don’t like.
Chips is B-CC’s award winning literary magazine. It includes brilliant poetry and prose and beautiful art – all professionally laid out in a thin paperback book.
The Problem: Last year’s batch of magazines cost a whopping $10,000. And at $15 per, Chips’ circulation was limited to those students who were able to afford it.
The Proposal: To save money, Chips should be printed magazine-style, not bound in a paperback book.
The Tattler succeeds where Wake-Up-BCC, the yearbook, and Chips fail. Unlike the latter two publications, The Tattler is distributed to the entire student body free of charge. As a testament to its preeminence, the online version of The Tattler now includes video clips from Wake-Up-B-CC, photos from the yearbook, and last year’s edition of Chips. And that’s in addition to the hundreds of articles, discussion forums, music and movie reviews, and creative writing pieces that fill our site. Lastly, The Tattler is B-CC’s most interactive publication. If you disagree, feel free to post a comment!
Tena, I have to agree that the Tattler isn’t exactly the best publication… and I’m on the staff!
I think that you went about this rather strongly, because I do respect the fact that the other publications at B-CC are very well done. While our writing could be better, I take pride in my work and try very hard to get information that is as accurate and well-written as possible. It is sad to see such a lack of interest in journalism, but I suppose it is a vicious cycle; no one joins the paper, so it lacks quality, and those who have the interest and the ability are turned away.
But still, I think we do the best with what and who we have, and that some people should settle down with thier responses. It was kind-of a joke, anyways.
Attacking the other publications and triumphing Tattler only comes off as pretentious and snobby, and also brings disgrace to the Tattler for publishing such a petty article
The fact that you would rip at the morning announcements and other publications of our school boggles my mind — especially when the Yearbook and Chips actually make money for our school.
Many of the articles in the Tattler are not only poorly written (and in multiple cases contain incorrect information), but pertain to events which everyone knows about as they happened months ago. Some would say the articles about the WBC are informative…I tend to think they’re a waste of space
While much of your advice is reasonable (yearbook pricing, Wake Up BCC at the beginning of class), the fact that you had to blast these other outlets is downright appalling. BCC’s media and creative outlets should support and encourage each other, as opposed to competing.