student journalism


Rebecca Pinnington former editor of UCL student newspaper Pi


wanes, it’s easy for those holding the purse strings to justify cutting circulation – or axing the print editions. For those having to implement these cuts, there are some benefits. Joshua Hackett was the student media coordinator at the University of Westminster’s students’ union from May 2016 until recently, where he supervised cost cutting. “I feel like student media needs to be true to the real world


if it’s going to help people get jobs,” Hackett says. “I tried to run Westminster like a start-up, building interest in the digital side of things – websites, data and apps. Those are the skills in demand these days, and it has the benefit of being cheaper than sticking to newsprint.” Worryingly, for some student newspapers, budget cuts aren’t the only threat they have to contend with. Rebecca Pinnington, a former editor of UCL student


newspaper Pi, hit the national headlines last year after the university threatened to revoke her degree if she published any more details about their finances. Now a national journalist, Pinnington told The Journalist


that her experience showed her “how easy it is for universities to intimidate student journalists”. “I knew instinctively that UCL shouldn’t be able to throw


anyone out of university for disclosing important information. But, when even the students’ union was encouraging me to comply or risk expulsion, it was difficult to believe anything else.” “One of the many difficulties faced by student journalists is


knowing their rights and knowing that actually, they do have the power to stand up to direct intimidation when it surfaces.” Ongoing financial threats have forced some student


newspapers to take a wholly new direction – and found, to their surprise, that they are not just surviving but thriving. Matt Soloman, editor of the Anchor, said of its ending its print presence: “Printing monthly was kind of restricting because


Journalists who started out on university papers


Many of today’s top hacks got their start on student newspapers across the country. Here are just a few … • Jeremy Paxman –


editor of Varsity, University of Cambridge The broadcaster edited


Cambridge’s independent student newspaper alongside his English degree. • Jeremy Vine – editor


of Palatinate, Durham University


Vine juggled editing


Palatinate along with hosting a weekly radio show and an English degree. • Hadley Freeman,


editor of Cherwell, University of Oxford Freeman edited Cherwell


in her final year at the university, before going on to spend eight years on the Guardian’s fashion desk. She is now an award- winning columnist for the paper.


• Amol Rajan, editor


of Varsity, University of Cambridge The former editor of the


Independent and now media correspondent for the BBC, edited Varsity. Oly Duff, editor of the i, headed


we’d have to prep the edition and then send it to the students’ union for approval at least a week before, so some stories risked becoming outdated. It’s given us a lot more flexibility over our content and it’s a good to make use of multimedia.” If student newspapers are to survive, it is vital that they embrace print alongside online, and seek various sources of revenue. The publications that thrive will be those who fight for their print edition while maximising their online output.


Varsity shortly before Rajan. • Heidi Blake, editor


of Nouse, University of York Blake, now UK


investigations editor for Buzzfeed, was awarded student reporter of the year and best feature writer in the Guardian’s student media awards for her work on Nouse. She then joined the Telegraph as a graduate reporter. • Luke Harding, editor


of Cherwell, University of Oxford Harding, the Guardian’s


foreign correspondent and author of The Snowden


Files, juggled editing Cherwell with his English degree at University College. • George Osborne,


editor of Isis, University of Oxford Osborne edited Isis


magazine while at Oxford – producing a controversial issue about hemp, which was partially printed on cannabis paper. • Jay Rayner, editor of


Leeds Student Rayner edited the


University of Leeds’ student newspaper, now called The Gryphon. Its alumni also include Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre.


theJournalist | 11


MARK THOMAS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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