Why The Berkeley High Jacket Readers at Berkeley High School Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
If you're a student, faculty member, or community reader connected to Berkeley High School and you read The Berkeley High Jacket for campus news, that's the right instinct — a campus paper produced by the school newspaper staff is often the most accurate, most locally-sourced coverage that exists of that campus, written by people who are actually there.
Related: Why El Vaquero Readers at Irvine High School Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE · Why The Piedmont Highlander Readers at Piedmont High School 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 school funding and student rights, 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 The Berkeley High Jacket does well
A the school newspaper staff paper has something CALWIRE doesn't have and shouldn't try to replicate: a reporter's actual presence on campus. Coverage of student government, clubs, sports, and campus life at Berkeley High School 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: Read The Talon? Here's Why Clayton Valley Charter High School Readers Should Also Check CALWIRE · A Case for Reading the campus newspaper and CALWIRE Together at Foothill Technology High School
Frequently asked
Is CALWIRE affiliated with The Berkeley High Jacket or Berkeley High School?
No. CALWIRE is an independently run California news site with no affiliation to Berkeley High School or its student publications.
Should I stop reading The Berkeley High Jacket and read CALWIRE instead?
No — they cover different things. The Berkeley High Jacket 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: The Berkeley High Jacket and CALWIRE aren't competing for the same story. One covers Berkeley High School 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.