''The Berkeley Beacon'' is the
student newspaper of
Emerson College, founded in 1947. The paper is published weekly on Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters of Emerson's academic year.
In 2012, the ''Beacon'' redesigned its
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
, making it the first
college newspaper
A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...
website with a
responsive design.
History
The first issue of ''The Berkeley Beacon'' was published on February 1, 1947, under the direction of editor-in-chief Paul Mundt.
According to lore, the paper was named after the college's location; at the time, Emerson was situated in
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
, at the confluence of Berkeley Street and
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston U ...
. However the name might actually refer to the famous weather beacon atop the
Berkeley Building
The Berkeley Building (also known as the Old John Hancock Building) is a 26-story, building located at 200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="n ...
, which was completed the same year.
''The Beacon'' has contributed to several student movements at the college, including the first student demonstration in Emerson history in 1968. It published a letter from the college president Richard Chapin decrying the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. In 1977, an editorial in The Beacon pointed out a number of inaccuracies in a college report which was attempting to secure accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. In 1997, The Beacon broke a story about a female student's on-campus sexual assault, which the administration had failed to address.
Notable alumni
*
Morton Dean
Morton Dean Dubitsky (born August 22, 1935), better known as Morton Dean, is an American Broadcast journalism, television and Broadcast journalism, radio News presenter, anchor, news correspondent and author.
Dean is a former weekend news anchor ...
, television correspondent and news anchor for ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...
'' and ''
Good Morning America''
*Brendan McCarthy, investigative editor for ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' and
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
Pulitzer Prize winner
*Dan Bigman, former business editor of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and managing editor of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
''
*Cyndi Roy Gonzalez, former communications director for
Massachusetts Attorney General
The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder ...
Maura Healey
Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General since January 2015. She is the governor-elect of Massachusetts, having won the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial electi ...
*Molly Driscoll, former culture editor for ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
''
*Nathan Hurst, political editor for ''
C-SPAN''
References
External links
The Berkeley Beacon(official website)
Emerson College
Publications established in 1947
1947 establishments in Massachusetts
{{Massachusetts-newspaper-stub