The Daily Heartbeat or the Daily Heartbreak?
 The iPulse, as I believe Ashlea has mentioned, is Lynn University’s student newspaper. I think a student newspaper is an amazing thing to have on a campus; it’s a way to reach out to students and make them aware of the happenings on campus. It’s recently been reformatted, and that change has improved it so much. However, I do have (quite) a few complaints regarding this publication.
I’ll start out simple: I was reading the tenth issue for this year and there was an article that had a sentence that went something like this: “He is also excepting electronic submission with a cover e-mail.” I don’t feel like this article could have been edited. I think someone should have picked up on the fact that ‘excepting’ should have been ‘accepting’ and ’submission’ needs an ’s’ at the end. I catch things like this all the time in the iPulse.
 In another article, I read that “the following stores will be opening in the next months to come.” Either take out ‘next’ or ‘to come.’ Redundancy is not your friend!
The poor writing style bothers me, as well. I mean, I don’t expect a school publication to be equal to that of the New York Times, but it’s apallingly simple. I suppose I can accept the lack of or misused punctuation, but sometimes, the simplicity of it will just drive me crazy. I don’t want to cite any examples of this, but please believe me, it could use some elevation in diction.
I remember reading last year and noticing that the common way for an article to start was by asking a question. I am so glad they have quit doing this! It is a pretty good technique, yes, but for every article in the paper to begin with a question? It gets a little boring. So that’s an improvement that I’m pleased to acknowledge.
 I read one article in this issue that I thought should have been expanded. It was called “Youth: Do They Care?” It’s a worthy subject to be put in a school paper, yet the article was so lamentably short! The “Movie Review” article was longer. In fact, the movie review article was longer even than the front page article, “National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.” Two of the most worthy subjects to be printed were two of the shortest articles! I think they should have been expanded so that more information could have been added.
Maybe I only notice all of this because I am such a grammar freak. I honestly can’t say whether or not any other students feel similarly. I understand that everyone makes mistakes and that there are going to be errors. This massive number, however, is unnecessary. It irritates me that there are so many blatant errors in this publication. How can they be missed? I can’t stand to read the iPulse because of the numberous errors I see. And please, any newspaper staff, don’t read this as a criticism so much as a critique. I wish the iPulse was better simply so that I have more incentive to read it. It is a worthy pursuit to have a school newspaper, but that newspaper should produce a sense of pride in the students, not a sense of embarrassment. I hope this will lead to some improvement in future issues.
Posted in Lynn, Venting | 6 Comments »
October 10th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I must agree! It is very hard for me to read it as well. I feel like so many things could be inproved on. Freshmen don’t even know about half the programs at Lynn, how about an Ipule dedicated to informing students about all the great stuff Lynn has to offer? And spell check would be nice. Maybe you should be their editor? You know, in all that free time you’ve got! lol.
It would be nice if they discussed more hot topics that students SHOULD be looking into. Jena 6, people stealing cars downtown, how we can help people in need?
And less about the sports! Ok great, they did a good job, but we have a fantastic music department people!!!
Ahem, I’ve said to much.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Thanks for the comment, I will bring it up on Tuesday in my class. It’s a valid point, and an issue that clearly needs to be dealt with. If you have any more ideas, please let me know, as I’d love to pass them on.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
If you feel that things need improvement and working on, rather than post “critique” if you will on your blog, come to the class and share your ideas that can better help the iPulse and the image of Lynn. We’re only a few people and can only do so much. However, we are always looking for people like you. Rather than voice your opinions on a blog, join the class and do things to improve it.
Also, as you mentioned in your blog, I feel that each issue continues to improve both in looks, quality and depth.
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and “we” as an editorial staff put in our all so that this paper can be circulated daily (which I may add is quite time consuming).
Thanks for voicing your opinion, hope to you see either MWF.
Jaye
October 16th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
When I first heard about the student bogs, I thought it sounded like a wonderful way to get student’s voices heard. As the editor-in-chief of the iPulse, I understand how important outlets, such as blogs or school newspapers, are to students. Also, as a peer, I can imagine that when you post your blogs you feel some of the same apprehensions my staff writers and I face. Any publisher of original content wonders, “Will people find my thoughts and ideas valid, will they care?â€
That is why I was extremely surprised when it came to my attention that a student blog writer was tearing down other student writers. The last place I expected to find such hurtful, uninformed and arrogant criticism was from a fellow peer, especially a fellow writer.
After reading your blog, I couldn’t help but feel that you really have no idea what goes into the iPulse. I read your article Friday, but gave myself the weekend before penning a response. After all, I realize how powerful and hurtful words can be, and I didn’t want to choose out of anger, nor did I want to attack you by “venting.â€
First of all, maybe you are not aware that the iPulse is not a club or an organization (as most school newspapers are), but rather, iPulse production is a class required for Communications majors specializing in Public Relations and Advertising, called, Online Print and Journalism. Twenty students, one editor-in-chief, a copy editor, a graphic designer and a faculty advisor, meet MWF to work on the iPulse. But our workweek doesn’t end there; many of us work six days a week, dedicating our free periods, lunch breaks and Saturday afternoons to the iPulse. Each week we work as a team to come up with three worthwhile stories for each staff writer to cover. Our writers are wonderful for the most part, but as this is class and not a club we face the obstacle of students who don’t show up for days on end, students who don’t meet deadlines, and students who are involved in the iPulse simply to meet their graduation requirements.
A daily student produced newspaper is hardly comparable to a single students online blog, a public diary if you will, so it is understandable that you may not have realized what it takes to produce one. Not only do we deal with content issues, but also formatting has been quite a task. Along with the new and improved format came a new program that none of our editorial staff had previously used. I think we’ve all picked up pretty quickly on the new program, but as you have pointed out, there are still a few bumps in the road. In our defense, the Sun Sentinel also produces spelling errors, as does any daily paper that is reviewed and revised late into the night. We are not the New York Times, nor are we Vogue or Sport’s Illustrated; we are Lynn University’s iPulse. The iPulse is not a specialty magazine, it is a school newspaper. Our audience reaches beyond the student body to include, faculty, alumni and parents.
Further, your own blog could have benefited from some of the good advice you offered. For example, I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment: “redundancy is not your friend†but was puzzled by the lines that followed. After calling a school publication “appalling simple†in one sentence, you lamented “the simplicity of it will just drive me crazy!†in the following sentence. Also, as a self proclaimed “grammar freak†I assume you own a thesaurus (of if not, may I suggest the one provided by dictionary.com – it’s great) so I was a little confused by your closing statements. You asked any of the iPulse staff to take your words not as a “criticism†but as a “critique,†interesting because those words are synonyms. As you said, redundancy is not your friend.
In response to your other comments: “Youth: Do They Care?†was an incredibly worthy subject as you mentioned, and if you have more to say about it, please by all means submit an article on the subject! Also, you must have been referring to the Oct 9 issue when you noticed that the movie review was a few lines longer than the cover story on NCAA week. It is possible that you missed the previous weeks issue which dedicated the entire back page to NCAA week, including an extensive article along with an events calendar (we have extra copies in the newsroom if you are interested in a picking a few up). In response to the “massive†and “numberous†(did you mean numerous?) errors you claim we produce, please let me know when you have some time to sit down and discuss these. I don’t know how they got past us, but we are always looking for ways to make our paper better. I am available in the newsroom on the third floor of the library Monday through Saturday, and I look forward to meeting with you.
Finally, I am apologetic that we have not given you enough of an “incentive†to read the iPulse. For me, the fact that I attend Lynn has always been incentive enough to read my schools publication. And you’re absolutely right, it is a “worthy pursuit to have a school newspaperâ€, but your following statements were wrong. The iPulse DOES produce a sense of pride in the students, not only in the editorial staff who work tirelessly to put it together every day, but in the staff writers who see their work published, the students who see their faces and names in print, and the faculty members who’s efforts are recognized and profiled in the iPulse.
As for your fellow blogger Morgan’s comments, again I am apologetic that our paper is hard for you to read. Please try to keep in mind that newspaper copy is commonly written at a sixth grade level, not only to keep things short and concise but also to better appeal to the general public. And I would love to hear more of your ideas about “hot topics†to cover, but I must let you know that unless it is a students car being stolen downtown, we wont be covering those types of stories. This is a student publication; perhaps you would find more interest in the nightly news. Please keep us informed on the music department, our email is lynnunews@gmail.com. As I am not personally involved in the music department it can be hard to keep up on everything they’re doing, but we love to hear from those students who are involved. Your idea for an edition dedicated to Freshmen awareness is great, but may I suggest that a more effective way to see those ideas in print would be to tell us directly, rather than to comment on a blog. Finally, I must admit I took some offense to your comment: “Maybe you should be the editor?†as if it is that easy. I put in hours upon hours of my own time as the editor-in-chief and receive the same three credits as everyone else in the class, trust me, its not that easy.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
After viewing Jana’s blog comments, and posts, I realize that this ‘back and forth commenting’ is truly going no where.
I personally take great pride in the work that I produce for the Ipulse, and I have to stand by most of what Sarah has to say. The Ipulse has improved in leaps and bounds this semester, and I am personally proud to be a part of it. Due to the fact that the Ipulse is actually a class we take, it does make things slightly more difficult (as not everyone wants to be there) and thus, the responsibility is left to the select few who are willing to give their time and effort.
We now have a comment or suggestion box in our newspaper room, however may I suggest meeting with the editor, who is a very sweet individual, working tirelessly to produce a newspaper that everyone will be proud of. I know that when she says that they could use the extra help, they honestly could – whether it be suggestions on what students would like to see in the Ipulse, to an extra pair of eyes scanning our stories for any errors before they are printed.
As the staff become more experienced, the Ipulse will continue to improve and I hope that students can find pride in the work that we put a lot of effort into.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
My god, voicing your opinions on a blog! What were you thinking?