Why The Piedmont Highlander Readers at Piedmont High School Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
If you're a student, faculty member, or community reader connected to Piedmont High School and you read The Piedmont Highlander for campus news, that's the right instinct — a campus paper produced by students on 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. Piedmont High School's The Piedmont Highlander has an active, recognized student journalism program. That's real, valuable student journalism, and nothing here is meant to talk anyone out of reading it.
Related: Why The Mirror Readers at Van Nuys High School Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE · Why The Amadon Readers at Amador Valley 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 Piedmont Highlander does well
A high school 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 Piedmont 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: Why The Talon Readers at Clayton Valley Charter High School Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE · Why City Times Readers at San Diego City College Should Also Be Reading CALWIRE
Frequently asked
Is CALWIRE affiliated with The Piedmont Highlander or Piedmont High School?
No. CALWIRE is an independently run California news site with no affiliation to Piedmont High School or its student publications.
Should I stop reading The Piedmont Highlander and read CALWIRE instead?
No — they cover different things. The Piedmont Highlander 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 Piedmont Highlander and CALWIRE aren't competing for the same story. One covers Piedmont 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.