Rethinking plurality in student journalism
To properly hold universities to account, student media must learn to value institutional accountability.
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to The Student Eye, a weekly publication for university students and those interested in higher education across the UK.
This week, we explore the purpose and future of student journalism, a topic very close to our own hearts. In a climate of declining popularity for traditional for media, particularly among young people, the premise of maintaining print newspapers is becoming more difficult to defend. Should news outlets meet people in the middle, and where does the role of student journalism come into play?
We analyse the merits and drawbacks of plurality in student media, speaking to former editors of student newspapers to gauge where those directly involved lie on the issue. In addition, we look into the problems surrounding student union-owned versus independent newspapers, drawing comparisons to the United States, where student media enjoys millions of dollars of endowment and national prominence. We argue that to cement its future, student journalism must prioritise investigative work that holds universities to account, pushes them to prioritise transparency, and holds onto institutional knowledge.
We have also got a full rundown of the government’s immigration white paper from earlier this week and the impact that it’s set to have on higher education.
Read our analysis below!
Rethinking plurality in student journalism
By Amelia Gibbins
A few weeks ago, after having served as the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Student at the end of last year, I joined the news team of rival paper, Cherwell.
In September 2023, I began editing for the Pink and Identity sections of The Oxford Student, the Oxford Student Union (SU) owned newspaper. I then graduated to the Comment and Culture sections, writing opinion pieces on national politics and reviewing student theatre. Editing the Features section introduced me to the wonders of Adobe InDesign, and my stint as editor-in-chief stemmed from there.
Fast forward 20 months, having worked across two newspapers at my university, I now frequently contemplate the plurality of student media. I spent over a year at The Oxford Student, and though there were many challenges and sleepless nights, it was nevertheless a productive experience. It has instilled a confidence (and dare I say, a slight addiction) in me that, only being in the second year of a four-year degree, I can carry forward and make a mark on the student media landscape, hopefully evinced by my efforts in starting The Student Eye and trying to break original stories.
“Independence brings with it both freedom and fragility, as there are fewer institutional constraints, but also fewer safety nets where funding is concerned.”
My views on plurality in student media have been shaped by the experiences I have had in journalism at university. When my tenure as editor-in-chief of The Oxford Student ended, I took a much needed break from student journalism to focus on my degree (and on myself). However, student journalism is a bug that is hard to shake, and my stepping-back from it fueled a desire to shape it and smooth over its flaws.
I joined Cherwell, Oxford’s oldest and independent student newspaper, in March. Though The Oxford Student and Cherwell have a so-called ‘rivalry’, they function in very similar ways and the structures of each section are almost identical. The most fundamental difference, in reality, is that Cherwell is independent, whereas its rival is a subsidiary of the Student Union.
This distinction, while seemingly technical, can subtly shape the entire ethos of a paper. Independence brings with it both freedom and fragility, as there are fewer institutional constraints, but also fewer safety nets where funding is concerned. Meanwhile, being Student Union affiliated can mean more resources, but also a tangible sense of editorial caution that is crucial to navigate carefully in contentious moments.
In reality, these differences between student newspapers only matter to those who are directly involved. I, for one, was oblivious to the key differences between The Oxford Student and Cherwell until I was involved in the editorial decisions of the former. The general appetite for student journalism among my peers is small, which makes it difficult to communicate the importance of integrity and holding university institutions to account to those who only pay attention to the tip of the iceberg.
“Just one part of the issue is the fragmented media landscape across UK universities, with a lack of cohesion between student publications that weakens its overall impact - one of the very reasons that you are now reading this publication.”
That challenge is only heightened by the fragmented nature of student media itself, often with a plurality that, while valuable in some respects, can limit reach. There is strong rhetoric around young people and news consumption, which primarily concerns using social media to stumble across it. To be attractive to its audience, student journalism must concern itself with issues that matter to students, and though this may seem strikingly obvious, it is not always the case in practice. Just one part of the issue is the fragmented media landscape across UK universities, with a lack of cohesion between student publications that weakens its overall impact - one of the very reasons that you are now reading this publication.
The purpose of student journalism is an important conversation to be had. Journalism, in every regard, must hold institutions to account. There are, of course, sections of almost every mainstream publication that deviate from the sole purpose of “accountability”, as reporting on art, culture, and film is undeniably important. Though journalism should be informative and prioritise fact-finding above anything else, it should also be accessible and engaging, which is where student journalism should focus its efforts.
Universities are nothing without their students. However, there is a disconnect between the governance of institutions and their members, which puts transparency and accountability to one side. Decision making processes are so obfuscated that student journalists, those who should be paying attention to and questioning those in power, are often oblivious to issues that are in the public interest.
There are many reasons for this, and it most certainly is not the fault of the students who strive to produce good quality journalism. Instead, there is a cultural ignorance towards institutional accountability that puts up barriers between the two worlds of university governance, and student life. Though one cannot expect an average undergraduate student to be keenly interested in these issues, this is also no excuse to allow power to go unchecked.
The plurality of student media
The idea of diversity in student media is attractive to a prima facie inspection, as more outlets for student voices should encourage more diverse perspectives. However, the reality of having multiple publications is not a simple question of diversifying perspectives. Unlike American counterparts, UK student newspapers work with tight budgets and limited resources; a phenomenon that stretches across the higher education sector itself.
Plurality is essential in journalism and carries many benefits, from fostering healthy competition to acting as a safeguard for democratic discourse. This environment does not appear to be mirrored by student publications, who tend to steer away from ideological leaning, though competition between papers does exist. For example, The Oxford Student and Cherwell have long been considered rivals, and their ‘respectability’ has fluctuated considerably as one overtakes the other.
Appetite for student journalism, from my experience, has been so limited that the case for multiple papers is somewhat difficult to make. The audience that publications compete for is so slim that it seems counterproductive to split efforts and resources two or three ways, weakening the overall impact of individual papers. Surely, under the power of one publication that targets accountability, student journalism could carry much more weight?
“The issue is exacerbated at Oxbridge given the universities’ sheer sizes, historical structures, and national significance, which make the webs of governance and staff a transcendent enormity.”
The Student Eye spoke to a former editor-in-chief of an Oxford student newspaper about his experience in university media, telling The Student Eye that a major problem for journalists at Oxford is poor institutional memory produced by short, busy terms. The result, he explained, is that “by the time students have formed relationships or learnt how to effectively hold the university to account, that is the moment at which they stop being student journalists.”
This is certainly true across the country, as nobody can expect a student to dedicate every waking hour to gain a solid understanding of university power structures. The issue is exacerbated at Oxbridge given the universities’ sheer sizes, historical structures, and national significance, which make the webs of governance and staff a transcendent enormity.
The former editor-in-chief also explained how, in his opinion, increasing the prominence of student media is threefold, requiring “a more considered overhaul of how editorial terms work, a stronger tradition of investigative journalism to show how to hold the university to account, and a move away from the kind of coverage people currently aspire to do.”
The question of consolidating the media environment is a key step in ensuring horizontal transfer of knowledge and forming a tradition of investigative journalism: with one strong tour de force of student journalism at each university, the act of holding institutions to account would be far stronger. This is certainly not an argument for the abolition of weaker publications, which would go against the spirit of student journalism itself. Plurality has come about naturally, and if it ends, it must also be in that vein.
Nevertheless, where there is a striving for greater student journalism, there is certainly merit in pooling talent and resources to preserve the future relevance of the student media. In an era of decline for traditional forms of news delivery, specifically among young people, journalism must adapt from that level onwards.
Immigration white paper: The debrief
By Oliver Hall
We have spent a huge amount of time this year predicting what the government would include in their immigration white paper, especially with regard to higher education. This week, it finally arrived, and we have been through the detail and resulting debates so you don’t have to. Here’s what made the cut.
As you might expect, the paper spends a significant amount of time setting out what it perceives as the justifications for the changes that it is making and outlining where it says the problems lie. It reads that “We have seen a series of problems involving misuse and exploitation of student visas, where visas are used as an entry point for living and working in the UK”.
After that, the document draws a link between domestic jobs in critical sectors, such as healthcare, and student recruitment, saying that the previous government “allowed education institutions to pursue unlimited expansion of overseas students without proper checks in place, and directly encouraged the NHS and care organisations to bring in far more staff from abroad while still cutting support or training places in the UK”.
The document also spends a significant amount of space detailing the specifics of the student visa applications that have been made in the last two years and the graduate route that many follow afterwards. They point out that visa applications for lower-ranked universities have increased significantly since 2022, whilst those ranked inside the world’s top 100 have actually decreased by 7% in the same period.
“Some 90% of graduates are employed within six months of their visa start date”
On graduate visas, there are details about the path to work that former students take. As it turns out, some 90% are employed within six months of their visa start date – most are in professional or associate professional occupations. The government assesses that the numbers taking up this route, however, have increased by too large a number and will cut the length of the graduate visa from 24 months to 18. After that, graduates will have to reach the same, increased salary thresholds as everyone else.
To its credit, the government is at pains to detail the contribution of students to the economy, outlining that, “international students at UK universities generated an estimated £20.65 billion in exports through living expenditure and tuition fees”. However, instead of expanding on the contribution that these students offer, they use this as the basis to explain why they “explore introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students, to be reinvested into the higher education and skills system.” There are no further details on those plans, which are expected to be laid out in the Autumn Budget.
On compliance, the paper also explains that each of the criteria by which visa sponsors are judged will be raised. We will detail this more in next week’s edition but it will essentially aim to improve compliance among providers.
Predictably, these proposals are strict and, in places, they are surprisingly so. The motivation of the government is clear and, to an extent, understandable. The challenge will come in minimising the economic self-harm that stems from targeting a sector in which immigrants are so important.
Around the country
Each week, we bring you a selection of our favourite stories from student publications around the UK.
Bristol SU responds to Supreme Court Equality Act ruling
Epigram report on the University of Bristol Student Union’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a biological woman. The SU, in a statement, said they were “disappointed and upset” by the ruling. As universities across the country review their transgender policies, this issue will certainly be important to watch.
Protesters allege ‘greenwashing’ by Cambridge sustainability institute
Varsity at the University of Cambridge report on protests against the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The group of activists were calling for increased scrutiny of the organisation’s work with companies such as Coca-Cola, Anglo America, and AXA. The protest was organised by the Organisation of Radical Cambridge Activists (ORCA), which has accused CISL of “greenwashing”.
We counted every working plug socket in the Billy B: Here’s what we found
Palatinate investigate the efficacy of university resources at Durham, testing how many plug sockets actually work at one of the University’s libraries. Shockingly, over 250 sockets were faulty in just one library.
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