Why Lariat Readers at Saddleback College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
If you're a student, faculty member, or community reader connected to Saddleback College and you read Lariat for campus news, that's the right instinct — a campus paper produced by students in the college's journalism program is often the most accurate, most locally-sourced coverage that exists of that campus, written by people who are actually there. Lariat is produced through Saddleback College's journalism program, a member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC). That's real, valuable student journalism, and nothing here is meant to talk anyone out of reading it.
Related: Why the campus newspaper Readers at Shasta College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE · Why the campus newspaper Readers at Foothill College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
What a campus paper generally isn't built to do is cover everything happening around it: the statewide legislation that affects financial aid, transfer requirements, and community college funding, regional breaking news, or live public safety information a campus community might need in the moment. That's a different job — the one CALWIRE is built for.
What Lariat does well
A community college paper has something CALWIRE doesn't have and shouldn't try to replicate: a reporter's actual presence on campus. Coverage of campus policy, student government, athletics, and college life at Saddleback College is going to be more detailed and more accurate coming from people who are there every day.
Where CALWIRE fills a different gap
Statewide coverage. CALWIRE covers all of California — the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the Central Valley — so state-level stories that affect a campus show up here even when they're outside what a single-campus paper can track.
Live public safety tools. A live police and fire scanner feed and real-time traffic camera access are built directly into the site, which a campus newsroom generally isn't set up to provide continuously.
Published on a different clock. A campus paper works around an academic calendar; CALWIRE's wire desk and staff desk publish continuously, making it a reasonable second tab open alongside a campus paper rather than a replacement for it.
More California local news comparisons
This is one piece in an ongoing CALWIRE series looking at how California readers can round out their local news diet. Related reads: CALWIRE vs. GV Wire and CALWIRE vs. Front Page Index.
See also: Why El Paisano Readers at Rio Hondo College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE · Why the campus newspaper Readers at Canada College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
Frequently asked
Is CALWIRE affiliated with Lariat or Saddleback College?
No. CALWIRE is an independently run California news site with no affiliation to Saddleback College or its student publications.
Should I stop reading Lariat and read CALWIRE instead?
No — they cover different things. Lariat is the better source for what's actually happening on campus; CALWIRE is built for statewide news, live scanner and traffic tools, and coverage beyond any one campus.
The bottom line: Lariat and CALWIRE aren't competing for the same story. One covers Saddleback College closely, from the inside; the other covers the rest of California around it, live. Reading both gives a more complete picture than either one alone.