STUDENT PAPERS

Problems with the Student Paper here:

1. Music coverage: Ok so I understand they can't buy CDs for everyone who wants to review stuff, BUT does that mean they should just say "hey if you've got any reviews just send them in to us man". I mean you just get people who are spending their hard earned on one CD a month be it Britney or Marilyn Manson or ANYTHING ELSE WHATSOEVER. Clearly the sensible thing to do would be to pick a few CDs for each issue and then say "anyone wanting to review any of the following". This also applies to books, films and gigs. Admittedly my Darren Emerson review is completely part of the problem, fans reviewing things they would have gone to see/bought anyway, but I like to think I'd be honest anyway.

2. Student Union promotion-Noone cares what you're doing, the fact is it's all over the national papers that DCU is losing money anyway so don't pretend there's some chance of any price being lowered. On a more general level, the problem is that most people couldn't give a shit about what the SU are "lobbying" for. There should be a separate paper for their crap. That way, at least there could be articles published criticising them.

3. This is related to my first complaint. Basically the whole "paper" just looks shit because they seem to have no fixed standards or amounts of space dedicated to anything. So you have bits of music reviews next to stories about the College hockey team next to "The Canteengate Scandal, CRISPS NOW COST MORE" or whatever. It's more like a fanzine than a paper. A bad fanzine.

The really sad part is that it has backing from a big enough publishing company and could be really good. But at the moment I wouldn't even use stuff published in there as experience.

Rant over.

we get free swag from labels , dont you ?

Not unless someone is keeping it.

Which is not that wild an idea.

ronan, all these things are a result of poor editorial policy: the way to solve them is for you (or someone similarly fired up) to become editor.... how would that come about? who decides?

school and students mags before now have "become" actual real mags, when the editors and team were were gifted enough (eg private eye and —i think? — blitz; also monitor which sort of "became" late 80s-early 980s MM): what that means of course is that staff are poached by a serious publishing firm, and the mag is left to rot in the wake of their leaving

The only reason I've started writing for it is so I CAN OWN IT. Er well yeah become editor. But I imagine you have to be quite patient. Also they may not be too keen to give it to first or second years.

The only reason I've started writing for it is SO I CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD. or er yes become editor and make it better. I'll have to wait till next year though, elections by the publication society at the beginning of the year I'd imagine. I guess this all comes across as very arrogant, I'm not saying I'm a fantastic writer or anything but at least it could be organised better.

Actually now that I think of it the reason the editor person may not like me is because I made lots of the above comments, albeit more politely, and perhaps she thinks I want her job. Which I do.

I hate when that happens, disturbing window into my thoughts.

I'm not sure if apologising makes it even worse either.

Here at UCI I started doing the music reviews as a lark and ended up becoming the entertainment editor. I got more free discs than I ever thought possible, which was a great boon in the days of my semi-starving grad status.

It very much all comes down to who is willing to help and wants to do something to improve the overall situation, I find -- and the office politics are always nasty.

A couple of horror stories:

1) The well-meaning and all round nice guy head of Media at Chadwell High tried to get a student paper going but it was wrecked when everyone decided they wanted to be the editor. It was briefly saved when it was announced that the Media Head would be the editor, but then everyone then wanted to be the [insert category here] editor. No- one seemed to understand that there actually has to be material to edit.

2) At ICHS the fellow who is now the singer with The Worst Band In London had his own private paper which he used to get free stuff. What was wrong was that he never got found out, which made him even more smug than he was previously, which was pretty nauseating I can tell you.