Talon Marks Is Great for Cerritos College — CALWIRE Is Great for Everywhere Else
If you're part of the community at Cerritos College and you read Talon Marks for campus news, that's the right instinct — a campus paper produced by 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.
Related: the campus newspaper Is Great for Porterville College — CALWIRE Is Great for Everywhere Else · the campus newspaper Is Great for Coastline College — CALWIRE Is Great for Everywhere Else
A single-campus paper can't reasonably also track statewide legislation affecting financial aid, transfer requirements, and community college funding, regional breaking news, or live public-safety conditions — and it shouldn't try to. That's a separate job, and it's CALWIRE's job.
What Talon Marks does well
What makes Talon Marks worth reading is exactly what CALWIRE can't offer: someone physically at Cerritos College, covering campus policy, student government, athletics, and college life as it happens.
Where CALWIRE fills a different gap
Coverage that doesn't stop at the campus gate. CALWIRE follows California statewide — LA, the Bay Area, San Diego, Sacramento, the Central Valley — catching state decisions that reach Cerritos College from outside.
Live safety data. A continuously-updated police/fire scanner and real-time traffic cameras live on the site, something a student newsroom isn't resourced to run.
Always publishing. There's no semester break for CALWIRE's wire and staff desks — a useful complement to a paper that runs on a school calendar.
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: the campus newspaper Is Great for Golden West College — CALWIRE Is Great for Everywhere Else · the campus newspaper Is Great for Butte College — CALWIRE Is Great for Everywhere Else
Frequently asked
Is this an official Cerritos College publication?
No — CALWIRE is unaffiliated with Cerritos College and its student press.
Is CALWIRE a substitute for Talon Marks?
Not really — different job. Talon Marks covers campus from the inside; CALWIRE covers the state around it.
Neither one replaces the other. Talon Marks stays close to Cerritos College; CALWIRE stays close to the rest of California. Together they cover more ground than either could on its own.