Journalism at Bucks County Community College

The Centurion is the college's award-winning student newspaper. It is published on roughly a weekly basis. The staff is made up entirely of Bucks students, who have total control over the paper's content. The paper always needs student reporters, editors, layout people, photographers and web editors. Students eligible for federal work-study can receive a salary if they serve as an editor.

All Jour175 students are required to write at least five stories for the Centurion. At least three of these stories must be either news or sports stories. The other two can be reviews, editorials or whatever.

NOTE: FIVE STORIES IS THE MINIMUM NUMBER JOUR175 STUDENTS MUST WRITE. YOU ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO WRITE AS MANY STORIES AS POSSIBLE. GENERALLY, THE PEOPLE WHO GET THE MOST INVOLVED WITH THE CENTURION ARE THE ONES WHO DO BEST IN THIS CLASS.

DEADLINES: Wednesday afternoons for non-breaking news, sports, features, editorials, etc. Thursday afternoons or early evening for breaking news stories.

The paper is edited and layout is done Thursday afternoon and evening. All students are welcome to show up on layout night to help put the paper together (and have some pizza).

DEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT! Like any newspaper, The Centurion is on a tight production schedule and depends on its reporters to get stories in on time. Missing a deadline not only causes tons of problems for the paper's editors, it also means you don't get class credit for the story. IF YOU MUST MISS DEADLINE OR CAN'T FINISH A STORY, LET THE EDITOR KNOW ASAP!

WORKING STORIES: YOU WILL PERIODICALLY BE GIVEN CLASS TIME TO WORK ON CENTURION STORIES. THIS IS NOT STUDY HALL. THIS TIME MUST BE USED TO EITHER REPORT OR WRITE STORIES FOR THE PAPER, AND AT THE END OF THE CLASS PERIOD I EXPECT TO SEE WHAT PROGRESS YOU'VE MADE.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SOURCES: Sources (people you interview for stories) may sometimes ask to see a copy of your Centurion article before it goes to press. While it's fine to double-check facts with a source (that's a good thing, in fact), it is your responsibility to politely but firmly refuse any request to see the entire article before it's printed.

WHY? By letting a source see an article pre-press, you're giving them the chance to try to control the article's content. Sources will often demand changes to articles in order to make themselves look better.

Once this happens you have surrendered your independence as a reporter and are no longer a journalist; instead, you have gone over to the dark side and entered the world of public relations hell.