<p>just wondering...how much of a time commitment is it to join the guardian newspaper as a writer, and is getting a writing position difficult?</p>
<p>many thnx.</p>
<p>also, do you have to have any experience?</p>
<p>from what i see, it depends on how many articles you want to write and i believe it's paid per-column-inch. don't know what the rate is. you should probably have some experience writing in AP style or working in journalism-related orgs/clubs/jobs in the past since they ask for a writing sample.</p>
<p>if you still want to write but don't get accepted or for whatever reason don't want to work for the guardian, there are other publications on campus, albeit unpaid (mq, triton, koala...etc. i would not recommend the koala unless you want lawsuits up your butt 24/7)</p>
<p>Hahaha the koala! Oh you SHOULD write for the koala it is ****ing HILARIOUS.</p>
<p>Do their writers really get sued?!</p>
<p>as a writer, do you have the option of dictating the number of articles that you want to write, or are the articles assigned to you?</p>
<p>does anyone read the Guardian?</p>
<p>that was a serious question.</p>
<p>not a writer. but i think you pick which articles you want to write.</p>
<p>and haha, the guardian has a pretty poor reputation on campus. i'd say the orgs with the worst reputations/hate factor on campus are (not in any order) the guardian, AS (esp. for major sungod screwup), the general campus administration (penny rue, mary ann fox...) housing&dining, transportation/parking and a few others i've forgotten.</p>
<p>what do you mean by the guardian's "poor" reputation (like elitist, somehow politically inclined, low quality, unorganized, etc.)?</p>
<p>i'm guessing he's going to say low quality</p>
<p>i'm a she, fyi.</p>
<p>no matter, the guardian doesn't have as good of a quality in writing as other college newspapers, and that, i believe partly stems from ucsd not offering a journalism major. all newspapers are politically inclined, so i won't comment on that.</p>
<p>i strongly suggest that if you pick up an issue from this past school year to review to steer clear of the opinion section. most of it is garbage (esp. 90% of the columns) and that is probably what most students complain about in the guardian, if they complain about the articles.</p>
<p>i've heard of protests against the guardian too. but don't get me wrong, it's not like the whole school just hates the guardian...the few that make their voices heard just <em>seem</em> to represent everyone, as is in any case.</p>
<p>idk if they were but koala should be sued, almost went to the cops about them last year..and im not a party pooper but they went too far, personally</p>
<p>what about college-specific newspapers/publications? do they have good reputations, or are they largely disregarded?</p>
<p>revelle had what? one? two the whole year??..if they had more they did a poor job of getting it out there</p>
<p>The college papers might be good if you're looking for a position that's easy to land. Sixth started their own paper (Sixth Sense) last year. I'm not sure if they've put out an issue yet.</p>
<p>Warren has Warren Briefs. I'm in Warren and I think I only saw copies of it a few times last year. Muir has the MQ, which is an okay humor newspaper that tries to emulate the Onion. I'm not sure what the deal is with the other colleges.</p>
<p>I despise the Koala. I know some people who get a kick out of it and I don't understand why. At any rate, I'm a much stronger proponent for free speech than I am an opponent of the Koala. If you don't like it, don't read it.</p>
<p>It does irk me, however, that the Koala is funded by A.S. in other words, a portion of my activity dollars. As anyone on A.S. will tell you, the council is not rolling around in extra cash and to me the Koala seems pretty unnecessary to fund. It's only a few thousand dollars a year though from a $1.7m annual budget and the Koala writers are very enthusiastic defenders of their funding, so I doubt that will change.</p>
<p>The Guardian is the only publication on campus I know of with regular circulation (twice a week). I think Opinion runs a lot a whiny and in some cases poorly written columns. I have read columns that I like, but those are in the minority. I think the editorials are generally pretty agreeable though.</p>
<p>The News section isn't going to pull in a Pulitzer anytime soon but it is a (mostly) reliable information source for some of the goings-on at UCSD. Some writers are definitely better than others at reporting so the quality varies from issue to issue and year to year.</p>
<p>In most cases, writers get to choose to write an article. In crunch time they may be assigned an article to write.</p>
<p>Writers get some very meager pay on a per-character basis. Unlike the college papers and the Koala, the Guardian is self-sufficient based off of its ad revenues. The paper is also editorially independent from the administration and the sections are run entirely by students. The paper does hire some UCSD employees to run the business end of things but those employees are not involved at all with the paper's content.</p>
<p>so when you say "meager pay" what do you mean? i don't want to have a job in college in the first place, but i love to write, and i can see myself writing for the Guardian...so about how much extra money would I have?</p>
<p>p.s. i read a few issues of the koala...pretty tasteless in my opinion, and i have a sense of humor. it's garbage. pure.</p>
<p>pretty sure you will not be rolling dough.</p>
<p>should probably expect to make enough for some extra spending money. not going to be enough to significantly help you pay off loans or work-study or whatever.</p>
<p>haha that's good enough for me. just need to pay for the occasional shopping trip and what not : )</p>
<p>is there a club for people interested in photography?</p>
<p>is there some kind of activities week where all the different clubs set up booths to attract incoming freshmen?</p>
<p>link to the Welcome Week website:</p>
<p>UCSD</a> Welcome Week 2008</p>
<p>I think I saw something on there that involved student organizations setting up booths on library walk. maybe not though.</p>