Editors’ Note: Our take on the purpose of the paper

by Prameela Kottapalli and Katherine Zhang

A new year, a new class of freshmen, a host of new teachers — and with it, a new issue of the Winged Post! We, as your editors-in-chief, are excited to welcome you to Volume 20.

A couple weeks ago, editors of the journalism staff gathered together to discuss the duties and values we, as student journalists, pledge to uphold, which included accurate, timely reporting that represents a multitude of perspectives in our community and promotes understanding. We hoped not to change the values of the newspaper but rather to make them clear to our community at-large. 

It’s worth saying that these ideas all draw inspiration from the thought and work of previous Winged Post editors-in-chief, as well as journalists all over the world. In discussing our mission, we hope not to change the core values of the newspaper but rather to emphasize them and make them clear to our community at-large.

In that vein, much of the Winged Post will look familiar to you — the Global section, a new addition last year, will continue, along with a slate of repeaters ranging from a teacher profile to a political news recap. We also look forward to featuring new recurring content, including an athlete profile and columns across all sections.

With that being said, there will be some shifts in the paper as well. A quick skim over the sixteen pages of this issue might show you that we have decreased the number of news briefs. With such limited space, we hope to go as in-depth as possible into the local, national, and international issues that impact all of us— so expect to see more in-depth features and profiles of students in every section.

Of course, we still maintain our dedication to truthful and timely news reporting, but the Winged Post is released once a month, while our online counterpart, Harker Aquila, will have fresh content every week. We hope that Aquila will soon become our news hub and allow all of our readers to hear about the events they care about in a more timely manner.

Another change we are piloting this year is the addition of a strong panel of columnists in all sections. By doing so, we aim to establish a sense of regular voices in the paper for our readers to follow and look forward to each issue. Columns will revolve around an array of topics–from entertainment to professional sports to politics– that reflect the varying perspectives and diverse interests within/of our school community.

As always, we love hearing from our readers, whether it be through feedback or a guest column. We encourage you to write a letter to the editor, in which you can respond to an article from the latest issue, or a guest column about your experience at Harker for our Heart of Harker column. To submit to either, email us at [email protected].

Looking forward to a great year, and see you next month!

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Aug. 31, 2018.