The Student Union paper: The Record

Chaos-Engine · 05-10-2004 3:45pm #1

The quality of the Record has fallen yet again. Every photo in the Record was faded and totally crap.
The articles were features and far too long for a drunk fresher to read

What is going on?
What is the story with them? Surely it would be beter to give the money the Record gets to Ents so that we can have better piss ups...

aodh_rua · 05-10-2004 3:55pm

I was the Volume 5 editor of the Record (think they're on Volume 8 now), and while I haven't seen the paper yet, much of the print problems you're describing are more to do with the printer than the Record staff. Plus there are often teething problems with the first edition anyway.

As for using the money for Ents - that's plain daft as the Record usually pays for itself and generates a surplus thus creating money for other Union activities like Ents and campaigns.

05-10-2004 10:29pm

I had a read of the stories on http://www.tcdsu.org before they hit the printers and I thought they were good. aodh_rua is correct, the printers make it look extremly amateurish but the content is indeed there. Irrelevant of where you read it, the stories covered are generally to a high standard.

[edit] Ian, you little shit. [/edit]

Chaos-Engine · 05-10-2004 10:54pm

You can blame the printers all you want. It is the editors responsibility to see what the printer prints. They should asked for a proof of the paper and also a sample of a similar publication for examples. At a glance the Record used Datascope. They are not the best in the business but they print what they are given. Trinity News printed with datascope last year and they're paper was no where near as poor as The Record is!!!

06-10-2004 1:11am

Trinity News printed with datascope last year and they're paper was no where near as poor as The Record is!!!

That's odd, I don't seem to remember the record putting the original submission AND the edited submission of the same story into the first and second pages of an edition.

aodh_rua · 06-10-2004 12:38pm

AFAIK the Record do use Datascope as do TN. We used to use the Anglo-Celt, but I think the change was done for cost reasons.

In terms of getting proofs - that'd take forever and the papers have enough trouble getting out on time as it is. And while looking at other publications can give you a general indication of the printer's quality, you really can't tell until your own paper arrives.

My only editorial comment is to do with the length of the stories. TN's perennial problem is that they write long articles that look worthy but aren't read (an attempt to be the Guardian). I always aimed to adopt the Financial Times model of stories that can be read in a minute, with Features that can do the in-depth reporting. But that's just me, and I think you should give the paper another issue before passing judgement.

ApeXaviour · 06-10-2004 7:03pm

I agree that the content was pretty good. Found it more interesting than usual. Only thing, it seems mostly written by the one person. Fair play to her..

Andrew 83 · 06-10-2004 8:45pm

Ace_Rimmer wrote:

That's odd, I don't seem to remember the record putting the original submission AND the edited submission of the same story into the first and second pages of an edition.

Surely that's the ultimate proof that thatDatascope print exactly what they're given, which was the point.

07-10-2004 1:08am

I move andrew that when he mentioned that TN "was no where near as poor as The Record is!!!" he wasn't just talking about the presentation, he was making slight references to the content of the UR, and the content differences between the TN and UR, especially since he was the first person to mention TN in this thread.... And the original post had a point about content in it. Also, I presume Chaos-Engine a he...

Chick · 09-10-2004 6:01pm

i was given numerous copies of that at the SU stand (nice ppl!) and at lunch in the phil/hist receptions. have to admit i didnt really get through it...

aodh_rua · 11-10-2004 10:26am

Chick wrote:

i was given numerous copies of that at the SU stand (nice ppl!) and at lunch in the phil/hist receptions. have to admit i didnt really get through it...

There's the problem with long articles - they look impressive if you're skimming but the paper will suffer if no-one reads it.

Chick · 12-10-2004 9:18pm

yep!!
im all for skimming

chump · 14-10-2004 6:28pm

I looked through it there... horrible! Good thing the advertisers don't know nobody looks at in any more tho!

Chick · 14-10-2004 7:41pm

how often does it come out anyway?

Stargal · 14-10-2004 8:39pm

Every three weeks, so it'll be out again the week after next (Week 3). Which coincidentally enough is when the next TN will also be out (they're planning to go fortnightly this year).

Chick · 15-10-2004 9:02pm

oh cool, i didnt know there was a tn!

desertcircus · 16-10-2004 10:15pm

The above message does not bode well for the Trinity News, given that it's been out for several days at this point...

Chick · 16-10-2004 10:20pm

so im proof of its unsuccessfullness lol? or maybe i just didnt get a chance to notice cos iv been in james's? where does on get a copy of said paper btw