People Behind the Newspaper Club
November 15, 2022
Article by Desha Chokoshvili
Edited by Zura Gigineishvili
Art by Ninia Abramishvili
Source GZAAT Gazette
The newspaper club was established in 2008 and has been pretty popular in our school ever since. With students getting information about daily news, events, and even scandals, it's interesting to see what happens behind the scenes of the club.
Mr. Anthony Schierman, the head of the club, was the one that initiated and brought his idea of this club to life. The club, established in 2008, was the first year of Mr. Schirman's teaching. Over the years, the club got much more popular and organized. "At first, we were printing on paper and just figuring out how to do all this. Over the years, working online became much easier, and the club grew and got to the point it is today."
Kato Ambokadze, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, talks about the decision to join the club. "My initial motivation to join the Gazette is my passion for writing and making my opinion heard. The writing was always captivating and exciting, especially covering the news that affected me personally. Using the Gazette as my platform, I constantly wrote about topics I find compelling and engaging." The club's direction has been changing throughout the years, mainly because of the pandemic. Whenever school isn't in lockdown, there is an opportunity to conduct interviews freely, have an outfit of the day posted, and keep the newspaper alive. Even though it has been a stressful matter, there have been changes in the editor-journalist relationship, a crucial problem during the lockdown. School students mature and change as years go by, so what they want to hear and write about in the newspaper also varies. The topics they covered two years ago are completely different from the ones they are covering now. Kato also talks about the core idea of the club: "Everyone can join and contribute in any preferred way. We also value freedom of opinion and speech; therefore, don't limit our members in what they want to cover." As an editor-in-chief, Kato also talks about how she wants journalists to cover various topics, not only in school. "Being a member of the club for the third year now, I've concluded that many journalists are reluctant to cover more city-wide topics and include some controversies in their articles. I hope that this year or in the coming years, journalists will have enough confidence to explore the outside school topics and write something bold that will spark arguments from different people and make them start having real conversations."
Kato Dadiani, an editor-in-chief, talks about her history with the club. "When I first joined the club, I was a freshman. I always liked to write, and my friends joined the club too. Now, it's my third year of being in the newspaper club. At first, I was a journalist, and now I'm editor-in-chief. A lot has changed in my responsibilities. One thing that has changed is that we try to make the newspaper club as friendly as possible. It feels like this big family; we're all working and having fun together. The crew is larger this year than in previous years, and we are trying to add new projects to attract more students.” Also, information about the primary goal for this year was mentioned: "One thing that is our priority now is to get started on the printed issues. I believe a concrete version of our work will motivate the club members and even us- editors-in-chief to produce even better content. The printed paper is also something that many people outside the club look forward to. To revive printed newspapers remains our main goal for this year."
The club is evolving and growing quite quickly. Let's hope they accomplish all the goals and more students join the club in further years.
