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Students go overboard with their language. The language is outrageous. It's not something you would take home to mom. It's very offensive. The Review could be more supportive of athletes. It's so unfair what the perception of athletes is at Oberlin.
I don't have any qualms with the Review. I don't have a great deal of personal experience in regards to the fashion in which certain events and issues are reported, but I feel that the coverage of Student Senate meetings is, for the most part, quite competent and fair.
The Review could be better if it had more stories about and for students. There's more stuff that students could be interested in.
I think that the Review sometimes caters to biased opinions of the news. It is not objective enough in its presentation of "facts." I also believe that some staff members pretend to have such a deep seded interest in what different students on campus experience, but when it comes down to it, they don't find stories newsworthy enough. Look, I don't know what to do to make it better because I thought at one point that having more students of color on board the staff would help, but I think that it has gotten to a point where people of color think that the paper is so biased and full of crap that they don't want to be bothered. Why write an article, if it's going to mysteriously be lost, or have it edited so much that it barely sounds like the point that you were trying to get across is there anymore. I am sorry I cannot offer any more solid solutions, but I am through with the Review!!
I think they should write more things about me.
I haven't read the Review consistently or closely this year. When I do, I read the Commentary and editorials. The gripes I have are poor copy editing, misspelled words and all, in the subheads, too. It looks bad. With regard to sports, I know I wish the sports coverage could be deeper, better writing, better stories. It seems a little canned. The Review isn't going to be Sports Illustrated, but I would really enjoy pieces that really get into some aspect or person or team in sports and open my mind.
I think that the Review tries pretty hard to get good coverage over a lot of subjects. Arts particularly seems to have writers that write critical and thorough reviews. What I think of it overall... I think of how it is constantly getting cracked on by readers who say it sucks. I think it's a college paper that's satisfactory, does some good work, goofs sometimes. Overall, I wish it were more provocative, with more stuff, more questions, more life in it. Sort of like some campus journals, only with that energy and expression in the reporting.
The Review should publish an April Fool's Day issue. It would prove that you have wit. Students make the Review. Students are witty. I don't read the Review because there's no wit. This could be the turnaround event for the Review.
I usually skim it for articles that interest me (usually one or two) and then toss it to the wind. It's not really bad, it's just all written by like three people, and I think there needs to be a larger staff so you can get more perspectives. But, you know, I'm not hauling ass to contribute.
I don't even know that there's so much bad about the Review. I remember when I was a student there was the idea that there was no chance of being quoted accurately. I had a friend that used to intentionally say things that were bizarre because he though that there would be a better chance of his quotes being accurate.
Lately, it seems that the Review has done a better job. It may be because I've been unattached from campus events, but I prefer to take the optimistic approach and assume that it's better. I'm not sure that I would change too much about the Review. For the most part, it's been good. It seems to cover the events on campus that everyone seems to care about.
The Review does a very good job with Oberlin news. However, there are definitely some problems with accuracy and copy editing. I also would like to see some more news from outside Oberlin. I think that the reporters should be mentioned more often.
It is my feeling that in the last couple of years a certain few Review editors and reporters have played recklessly with truth, fairness, and decency, which are among the most important principles of any enterprise, including journalism. Their inappropriate epithets, their incorrect attributions, and their many inaccuracies have, on occasion, caused undeserved pain to a number of decent people. In their zeal for a pithy story, they have not hesitated using anonymous quotes, however destructive, with never an apology or a meaningful correction after the damage is done. To you who have behaved so unprofessionally, I can only wonder where your sense of accountability is hiding, not to mention your sense of professionalism and even honor. Shame on you!
The Review is the paper people love to gripe about. It's a little like a lightning rod: you'd better have one, but no one is going to want to sit on it. My suggestion: Don't review professional arts events; It makes the paper look at once pompous and naive. Preview them; supply background; make news out of them instead.
Yeah, I've certainly bitched about the quality of the Review at certain points, but, on the real, it's not THAT bad. It certainly has its share of poorly written articles and sketchy research, but considering that it's put together entirely by students, I think the Review is pretty respectable. For the most part, I think the article topics are a little boring, but I usually read most of the Commentary section - I feel like it's my only connection to many groups of people - and, of course, I like to know the weather. I suppose I'd like to see more response and involvement of students not on the staff - I realize, it's a pretty difficult task to get Oberlin kids involved in anything they're not getting credit for, but it seems like an important one, and also a way of making the Review more interesting, accessible, and connected.
Hmm...number one, the Review could get better sports writers, more people in general to write articles for the Review. As much as I like reading the Review, I don't want to read pieces by the same folk over and over again next week. Yeah, I know that's because people here have a very aloof, and at times, shitty opinion of the Review as not being good journalism - I don't know. Somehow, I don't know if this could be done, but could the Review get more writers of color? That may help in getting more people of color to read it. Also, I think there needs to be more commentaries-okay, I sweats me some commentaries - mainly because I think the Commentary page is among the few places in the Review in which folk get real about their opinions on things that happen on campus.
Unlike most folk, I like the Review. I like reading it... funny, that seems so out of place here given that everyone and their momma complain about how wack the Review is. Hell, I'm not saying it's the bomb like The Amsterdam News, New York Times or the Washingtonian, but it isn't bad.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 21, April 17, 1998
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