BurntX Revival

By Kassie Araque, journalism junior

Today, it’s hard to imagine any college campus without its trademark publications and student media outlets. Over a century ago, The Daily Texan began serving students across the Forty Acres and remains a dominant force as the most-awarded college newspaper in the nation.

While Texas Student Media (TSM), which oversees the Texan and other campus outlets, has been a fixture for over 100 years, some of its entities had a difficult time solidifying themselves. One of these, Burnt X, has “returned from the dead” after a couple years of sporadic publishing and a hiatus.

The publication’s adviser, Katey Outka, who also leads The Drag, a fellow TSM entity, said Burnt X aims to provide a space for pieces that don’t fit the mold of other platforms.

“I felt strongly about it because the Burnt X style of journalism — buzzy pieces written with a lot of voice and style — is the type of journalism I spent most of my career doing,” said Outka, a 2013 Moody graduate. “I don’t think that’s the type of journalism experience that our students get elsewhere in TSM or in classes."

Co-editor-in-chief Hasina Shah, a journalism junior, said the publication serves as an alternative to the hard-news style of The Daily Texan and the broadcasts of Texas Student Television, allowing students to grow their portfolios.

“It won't be a jokey kind of publication - it will still be very newsworthy, but a bit more lighthearted,” Shah said.

According to the “Burn Book,” which serves as Burnt X’s how-to guide, the story goes that three students, just a bit younger than Outka, teamed up with then-TSM director Gerald Johnson to start the publication. Johnson had a goal of creating TSM’s first digital-only platform and, within seven months, accomplished it.

“I remembered how cool it was that these three people I knew started this cool publication, and it felt really sad to let it go away,” Outka said.

Current staff express the same passion for BurntX.

“I love the idea of a UT lifestyle magazine and don’t want something so valuable to go away,” said Lillian Vest, Burnt X’s co-editor and a third-year journalism student, in an Instagram post promoting the magazine.

Shah said the publication lacked the successorship and legacy of bigger publications on campus. Outka said the pandemic also played a role in its low participation. Now, the staff aims to focus on content, engagement and community to relaunch Burnt X. With pressure still on, Outka said the publication remains at risk and this semester could be the last.

“I was told that this was more or less a make-or-break semester for Burnt X — that if we couldn’t pull together students who were committed to keeping it afloat, it would probably just disband,” Outka said.

When she originally applied for Burnt X, Shah said her intentions were not to help lead the revival. In fact, when Outka offered the position of editor, she said she rejected the role since it was her first semester on campus. But, Shah said Outka reached out to her and asked if she would rather serve as a co-editor alongside two other students — Vest and Guido Peluffo, a journalism senior — which Shah accepted.

The first round of applications, editing and publishing stories has been a success, staff members said. The leadership team felt disheartened after a thin audience at their first meeting for those interested in joining, Peluffo said. By the deadline, Peluffo said they had over 30 applications.

“That very first orientation we were like, ‘Oh, no, we're not gonna have enough people and the editors are gonna have to do every article by ourselves if we want this thing to work,’” Peluffo said. “We're happy we have a team now.”

Shah said multimedia stories in the form of podcasts will be an expansion she’s interested in for the future, but sim ply taking Burnt X off the ground remains her top priority.

“I want to create a really inclusive, really diverse, really fun organization where people take it seriously and are passionate,” Shah said.

The leadership staff said they hope their members will get resume-worthy experience and clips to add to their portfolio. They said they also hope to give them an outlet to explore topics they are passionate about without confining them to a certain niche or considering seniority like other campus outlets.

Peluffo said sorting through pitches and articles makes him appreciate the creative people working with him, such as new writer Kimberly Andrade.

“I just wrote my first story and got positive feedback,” said Andrade, a communication and leadership junior. “I’m so excited to see the ‘by Kimberly Andrade’ byline when it gets published.”