The Weekly Sillimanian 2022-2023 News Department Evaluation

In this evaluation document, we will assess the performance of the News

Department at the Weekly Sillimanian for the academic year 2022-2023. This analysis
aims to provide insights into the department's achievements, areas for improvement, as
well as identify potential opportunities and challenges for the future.

Performance Evaluation
A. Key Objectives:
The primary objectives of the News Department for the year are the following:
 Deliver timely news articles and topics consistently.
 Be the focal point of the Weekly Sillimanian since news is the essence of
journalism.
 Successfully handle the Weekly Sillimanian Sports Express for the
Silliman University Intramurals
 Publish at least 4 news articles per issue.
 Contribute as a primary organizer of the SUSG Elections
Assessment of each objective

1. Deliver timely news articles and topics consistently.

 Assessment:
o Not accomplished
o Factors that determined the said assessment include the following:
 Writers’ initiative to pass articles on time
 Scheduling conflicts
 Delayed or no response at all from news sources
 Lack of secondary or backup topics
 Editor being unable to immediately provide feedback to news
article drafts
 Editing and finalizing of articles take too much time
2. Be the focal point of the Weekly Sillimanian since news is the essence of
journalism.
 Assessment:
o Accomplished
 o Throughout the year, the news articles of the Weekly Sillimanian have
been the primary focus of the publication. It is heavily stressed every
Friday meeting that news topics and articles must be present or else
the upcoming issue will not be released until further notice.
o Team wrote an average of 4 news stories per issue throughout the
year.
3. Successfully handle the Weekly Sillimanian Sports Express for the Silliman
University Intramurals
 Assessment:
o Accomplished
o The return of the Weekly Sillimanian Sports Express was met with
various commendation ranging from old tWS staffers to various
Sillimanians who viewed the first episode. The script and flow for the
entire episode was spearheaded by the news writers and the reach
and interaction count of the said episodes represent how successfully
the planning and implementation were made.
o For the other episodes, the only problem was with the video editing
which was not assigned to the team.
4. Publish at least 4 news articles per issue.
 Assessment:
o Accomplished (Overall)
o Out of the 14 issues released, only three issues had below 4 news
articles, with increased consistency starting from issue 6 and beyond.
o Issue 14: 6 articles

Issue 13: 5 articles

Issue 12: 5 articles

Issue 11: 7 articles

Issue 10: 4 articles

Issue 9: 4 articles
 Issue 8: 5 articles

Issue 7: 4 articles

Issue 6: 4 articles

Issue 5: 3 articles

Issue 4: 3 articles

Issue 3: 3 articles

Issue 2: 5 articles

Issue 1: 4 articles

5. Contribute as a primary organizer of the SUSG Elections

 Assessment:
o Accomplished
o Ranging from live tweeting to transcribing every word and info that the
SUSG has presented, the news team, primarily has been one of the
key contributors to the success of covering the entirety of the SUSG
Elections. A three-episode video was also released with contents and
information gathered from running presidential and vice-presidential
candidates for both CAUSE and SURE parties and the incumbent
president and vice-president of the SUSG.

B. News Coverage

Diversity of news topics throughout the year

 Sports news: 4
 Admin: 14
 Election: 2
 Events: 27
 Lampoon: 6
 Student Accomplishment: 9
  SUSG: 6

Identify any gaps in coverage and suggest potential improvements.

 Gaps:
a. Angle preference
b. Diversity of information source
c. Lack of heavy/relevant information among gathered data

Suggestions:

 Always think outside of the box.

 Never settle with a few sources. If your primary source does not/cannot provide
you the information, look for other sources.
 Objectivity is a must, although it is a myth. BUT STILL…
 Never settle with you desired angle. Gather every bit of information you could get
then decide what your angle would be after.
 Never be shy. You’ll never know what opportunity you might miss.
 BUILD CONNECTIONS.

C. Writing and Editing

Evaluate the overall quality of writing and editing within the department.

 Average
 The entire news department was filled with newbies since there was no continuity
from the previous batch.
 There is a major improvement from the first semester to the second semester,
given that the writers were already able to accustom themselves to the tWS
system.
 Writing and editing within the team is also restricted due to the following reasons:
o Limited capability for writers to address comments and revisions
o Time-bound
o Consistency of submission dates
D. SWOT Analysis

Strengths

1. Adaptability
 Writers of the team, when faced with a unplanned situation such as choosing
news angles, info gathering, lack of relevant info, show potential in adapting
to satisfy the standards set in writing news. Although some need to improve in
this category, time and experience would be beneficial for them.
2. Willingness to improve/learn
 During the entire term, there has been noticeable improvements in the writing
methods, content, and info gathering schemes. This is seen on the sudden
spike of articles when stability within the team was accomplished.
3. Spearheading key projects
 The news team was able to spearhead the return of the Weekly Sillimanian
Sports Express and it was a success. Also, the team behind key projects
during the SUSG Elections were mainly comprised of members of the news
department.
4. Healthy communication within the team
 Although unlike certain groups whose members share a bond for a couple of
years, the news team only had less than a year to create some sort of
chemistry. When deciding on what news topics to cover, the team has been
communicating on a regular basis through a group chat. Occasionally, casual
conversations were also done within the group.
5. Versatility
 Members of the Weekly Sillimanian’s news department are talented in various
ways and could handle not only covering events and writing stories but other
journalistic aspects like helping the creatives team during special events and
such.

Weaknesses

1. Meeting deadlines
  This recurring weakness has been the deciding factor on whether a
journalism team is successful or not. For this year’s news team, it has been a
regular that there is no regular date on when writers submit their articles.
Although it was approved that a certain date is allocated for writers to submit
their drafts, they still cannot consistently beat deadlines.
2. Quality in news angles
 There are several news stories that could’ve been written better through
proper selection of angles. The problem with this is when a writer chooses an
angle and the editors do not approve of it, they no longer have time to rewrite
it. This affects the overall quality of news stories and readership count.
3. Availability to cover “sudden events”
 News writers do not merely focus on writing news stories. They should also
cover the aspects of Looks, Just Ins, Breaking News, and so much more.
Much of this workload was handled by the editorial board which should not be
the case for the majority of the year.
4. Writing consistency
 Consistent writing takes time and experience to polish and guarantee a great
product. This issue is very noticeable among the news writers of the Weekly
Sillimanian, not only on the technical side but also on the structure and style
of writing.

Opportunities

1. Face-to-face setting
 Operating in a face-to-face setting opened lots of opportunities for writers to
utilize in writing stories. These opportunities include access to events, face-to-
face interviews, and experience from special events such as the intramurals
and election.

Threats

1. SUSG and Department/Colleges Social Media Postings

  Since Silliman University is filled with organizations, the paradigm of
information dissemination has been scattered instead of a centralized
method. With organizations also posting their events and such, the consumer
level of tWS lowers since there are possibilities that these organizations post
at a faster rate than the press.
2. SUCC’s coverage of events
 The Silliman University Camera Club is known for its capability to cover any
event inside and outside the campus. This has been the challenge for tWS
considering the number of staff and the equipment necessary to perform such
operations consistently.
3. Readers’ attention span and preferences
 This generation is different from other generations. The method of
news/information consumption is of great challenge as to what content the
Weekly Sillimanian would post or create.