"When a dog bites a man, that is not news. But when a man bites a dog, that IS news."- Charles Dana, New York Sun editor

I just started my agonizing amount of reading due for homework, and already, my Inside Reporting textbook has proved 1/2way useful and entertaining.  Its setup is almost like one of those children's books about science where they have a bunch of pictures and individual textboxes on each page to explain different elements of each topic.

It's already given quite a few ideas as to how I can improve my own writing.

It's also inspired me to figure out what exactly is wrong with the Dominican Star newspaper and what can be done about it.

My high school paper just recently one a national award for its prowess at reporting the news and it's so much different than the Star. There's definitely more than one reason for the difference; one is obviously that the Dominican Star is a college newspaper.  However, there are key similarities that make me confused when considering how much room to grow the Star has compared to the supreme quality of the Lion.

1. Both journalists at my high school and journalists at my university write for the newspaper for similar reasons: to get something in their portfolio or on their resume, to fulfill class requirements; and for fun.

2. Both newspapers have a long legacy.  The Lion recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, and I believe the Star has been around for a very long time too.

3. Both newspapers are essentially student-run.  Professor John Jenks and Mr. Jason Scales both let students do the vast majority of the work.

4. I presume most of the writers for the Star have the same or more experience writing newspaper articles as students at my high school.

5. Both schools provide adequate funding for the newspapers, and both newspapers rely to a certain extent on advertising.

What, then, may lead to the difference between the newspapers' levels of success?  Is it my high school's newspaper requirement that all its writers complete the Journalistic Writing course before writing for the paper?  Or something else?  I may even ask Mr. Scales to review the Star to see where it could improve!