Nov. 2, 2010
“The Watch has always aimed big and delivered small.”
Maybe it’s self-defeating that the editors’ welcome to what really is an exciting new era for the Watch begins with a quote like that, from our founding editor-in-chief. But really, our new website is just that—we are delivering small. Celebrating a 21-year-old newspaper’s entry into the online world is like throwing a baby shower for a child who can already walk. After all, it took us the entire time that we’ve been alive for the Watch to get a website.
So while it’s an absolute thrill that we can be here, getting the chance to be at the helm for this inaugural launch of our November issue transmitted now in bytes instead of ink, we still feel that it’s not enough.
Sure, we’ve undergone a massive aesthetic redesign, followed on what last year’s executive started in turning this into a full-fledged magazine, and started using Twitter to its maximum journalistic capabilities (@KingsWatch). But that’s not how we plan on delivering big. Where we will do so is in our ongoing commitment to you, the user of the site, by keeping this website going for longer than one launch party, a couple of issues, a school year.
We’re going to do that with web-exclusive content that brings you more information than the 24 pages of every issue can hold; with regular coverage that transcends the limits of a monthly magazine; with opinions and blogs from regular contributors and, of course, your noble editors-in-chief. We’ll be asking you the big questions and getting and printing your responses. You’ll have a chance to discuss what you read in a community small enough that you’re doing it with your friends anyway. You’ll have the ability to peruse back issues and know exactly when it was that the King’s Students’ Union executive stopped using Hotmail email accounts (8 short years ago!), when the gossipy Fishbowl ended (or its possible future return?), when we stopped including basic grammatical errors in headlines (two years ago!), and when former editor-in-chief and current Metro News reporter Alex Boutilier started being cynical and snarky (somewhere around mid-first-year). The Watch is here to serve as the voice of King’s College and shape the discussion within the university, and with this online presence, we’re certain that we’re doing just that, elevating our profile both here and in Halifax at large.
When we first took on the responsibilities of editors-in-chief, we knew that we had not just a torch to bear but a project to take up—the makings of a magazine for a fantastic community that needed direction, definition, and development. This website—and our ongoing work to shape this living work—is a clear sign that the work has begun.
So stay with us.
Adrian Lee & Griffin McInnes
Editors-in-Chief, The Watch
