The Crimson White

By now, I'm sure that all of you know of my voiced displeasure with the Crimson White, the University's newspaper. However, if you have not read or peer reviewed my last 2 papers, then you don't know exactly what my problem is. This is something I really thinks needs to improve to better serve the students of UA. The Crimson White is a student run newspaper that aims to provide information to the students on the University of Alabama campus. It has been providing students with news since 1894. This year, there are seventeen editors on the staff, most of whom are assigned a specific section of the newspaper. There is also one chief editor who is in charge of the newspaper as a whole, making sure everything runs smoothly and each article is written correctly and appropriately. A majority of the articles are written by staff writers and contributing writers, all UA students.

One of the most obvious problems with The Crimson White is its lack of editorial guidance before it goes to print. There are always numerous spelling and grammatical errors in every edition. This problem should never happen because all word processors come equipped with spell check. The lack of effort that is put forth leads me to believe that the staff doesn’t care if what I am reading is accurately typed or not. The simplicity of making sure all words are correctly spelled should be one of the first things checked before printing off the paper and distributing it around campus. Another big problem that is inhibiting The Crimson White from becoming as good as it could be is its lack of stories dealing with pressing issues or relevant topics. All too often, I will pick up a newspaper and be done reading it in less than five minutes because of a lack of stories that interest me. I consider myself to be a normal college student who shares the same interests as my fellow students. Because of this, I’m sure there are a lot of papers being wasted and not getting read. They will get picked up and skimmed over before being thrown into the nearest trashcan. This waste of paper, ink, and money used to produce the paper each day could easily be spent for far better and more productive things. The informative side of The Crimson White is almost nonexistent. Exploring new topics and unveiling information students on this campus don’t already know about is something that almost never happens. While the two previous issues dealing with the University newspaper are a problem and need to be addressed, they lack in comparison to the most compelling issue with The Crimson White. My biggest concern with The Crimson White is how the staff uses too much energy and page space complaining about matters that have little relevance at all. Every time I pick up the The Crimson White it is filled with complaints about one thing or another. It is supposed to be a student newspaper, but it is turning into a forum for complaining and bad journalism for the editors and staff. More and more articles are written with a hidden message that is very easy to detect. I get tired of reading how one staff member doesn’t like this or an editor doesn’t like that. A good newspaper is written with a non-biased account of the situation. If written like this, it will be able to appeal to a larger audience and be a more successful newspaper.

I hope that the Crimson White greatly improves over the summer in order to better serve the student body at the University of Alabama. It has the capabilities of being a great resource if used properly, and I hope it turns into that resource very soon so that it is more benefitial to the students on campus.