Power of the Press: 50 Years of The Rivers Edge

David Burzillo
Newspapers have been in steady decline in recent years, but you wouldn’t know it at Rivers. The Rivers Edge, the school’s award-winning student newspaper, is alive and kicking.

The inaugural edition of the paper came out in 1970. Today, 50 years later, students produce five or six jam-packed editions per year that are a must-read for community members. The Edge has long been recognized by professional journalism organizations for its quality and content. In 2019, the American Scholastic Press Association honored The Edge with a first place with special merit award.

The Edge had a precursor of sorts. For much of Rivers’s early history, The Current, first published in 1924, served as a combination newspaper, literary magazine, and yearbook. It was not until 1966 that students published a stand-alone yearbook, and The Edge followed a few years later. Rick Kurson ’71 served as the paper’s first editor. Looking back on the birth of The Edge, he says, “I was totally proud of this, as I imagine anyone involved in it was.”

Al Gordon ’72, a prolific contributor during the publication’s first two years and the editor for its second, says the early years had a self-reliant quality: “It just sort of happened. It evolved very quickly. We didn’t talk a lot about things; we just did it.”

The first issue explained that the purpose of The Edge would be to publicize “important news events. Topics of articles will range from school events to debates and discussions.” Then as now, there was no shortage of stories worth presenting. But the paper’s production and processes have undergone a dramatic change.

From its modest beginnings as a four-page publication printed on 8 ½-by-11 paper, The Edge now averages 16 tabloid-sized pages per issue. In the paper’s earliest days, students typed up their articles, and the editors then drove the material from Weston to Brookline, where the stories were set up in columns at the Brookline Chronicle Publishing Company. The editors retrieved these reformatted articles, laid them out, and then drove them back to Brookline for printing. Today, students type and proofread the articles. Alex Stephens ’83, the paper’s faculty advisor, uses a desktop computer to lay out each issue. Electronic files are sent to the printer, and then the papers are delivered to campus—no student road trips required.

Early issues of The Edge included profiles of faculty and staff, campus news stories, and sports updates. Some meatier subjects, like the building of a hockey rink, coeducation, and the proper focus of a prep school, were presented in the form of debates. The legacy of that early editorial team’s work is an outstanding publication that continues to provide students with an excellent introduction to journalism. “People perceive it as a good paper,” says Stephens. “When an editorial calls a person or policy out, it’s usually backed with good evidence. And we’ve tackled some controversial subjects, like vaping and drinking.” The fact that the paper isn’t simply a mouthpiece for the administration, he says, lends it credibility.

After 50 years, the paper remains a source of pride—and news—to this day. For the students involved, the thrill of having a byline never gets old. “There’s nothing better than seeing your name in print,” says Stephens. “People are pretty psyched when it comes out.”
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