Critique Primer

• Please read carefully the material written by the adviser and students. This will help you understand the school’s individual situation and may help you shape your comments.
• If a newspaper also has a website, we have asked advisers to provide an explanation of how this may affect coverage decisions for the print newspaper and to provide a URL. Many schools with vibrant websites often have print products that are more feature-oriented. We ask you to be open-minded to these shifting coverage trends, particularly as you apply our “News Coverage” criteria. You do not need to critique a newspaper’s website — but print newspapers should not be penalized if some traditional “News Coverage” elements are missing, as long as those elements are represented on the news website.
• Please write plenty of comments in the booklet letting students know what they have done well and what needs improvement. Please write constructive comments as though you and your students were going to be the recipients of them! Please be gentle, thoughtful and helpful.
• We hope the scorebook helps to make your work easier; however, we do not want it to prevent schools from trying new ideas that may not conform to the categories we have established. Please review the three newspapers, and if the material is covered, wherever/however it is placed, give the students credit. We want to allow for non-traditional treatments and growth, but we also want to ensure the basics are covered and journalistic standards are maintained.
• Please note the use of words such as “avoids,” “if used” and “may.” They do not mean that the item must occur.
• We trust your judgment. We would appreciate suggestions or concerns you have as you work through the critique booklet.
• Also, please don’t allow a school’s score to be too close (within 8 to 10 points) to the next higher award level. This causes great angst for advisers and students alike! Instead, you might increase or decrease the score accordingly based on your overall impression of the publication.
• Please check over your comments and scores carefully before you consider the critique finished. It’s easy to miss something.