London Student

Last updated

London Student
Type Student newspaper
Format Berliner
Owner(s)Independent cooperative
Founded1979
LanguageEnglish
RelaunchedJanuary 5, 2015 (2015-01-05) [1]
Website londonstudent.coop

London Student is a student paper, originally the official student newspaper of the University of London Union. It began publishing in 1979 (replacing its predecessor Sennet, including a redesign) and was at one point the largest student-run newspaper in Europe (representing over 120,000 students). At that time it was published weekly in term-time and printed in Gloucestershire, before being distributed to around 50 London sites including non-university further and higher education establishments, such as Polytechnics, overnight. It was financed by a combination of university grant and advertising. The editor was elected annually by other student journalists who had worked on the paper as a sabbatical from studies, and there was one staff member, a business manager and advertising sales person. The paper stopped publishing in 2014 after the University of London withdrew funding, but relaunched itself online the following year under a new editorial team. It is now an independent publication with ultimate control over content and appointments vested in the editorial team as a worker co-operative. [2]

Contents

Until its closure in 2014, London Student distributed 12,500 copies fortnightly during termtime throughout the university year, equating to approximately 12 issues annually. This once made it the largest student newspaper in Europe. [3]

A campaign to save it was led by the paper's last editor, Oscar Webb, including an open letter to the University of London signed by journalists Amol Rajan, Anita Annand, Laurie Penny and the academic David Graeber, among others, [4] London Student closed in July 2014 after funding from the university was withdrawn.

It was relaunched as a co-operative not affiliated to the University of London in January 2015, and is now published online. The most recent print edition was a single issue published 1 October 2015. Following its relaunch, London Student won Best Newcomer at the 2016 Student Publication Association (SPA) Awards. [5] London Student won Best Website at the 2017 SPA Awards and was Highly Commended for Best Use of Digital Media. [6]

Notable stories

In March 2006, the newspaper broke the story that The Mail on Sunday newspaper had offered student reporters money to infiltrate and record meetings of student Islamic societies in the wake of the London bombings of 7 July 2005. The report, headlined 'Nailed on Sunday', created some international media coverage, although the response in the UK was more muted. The Mail on Sunday responded by saying that they were investigating "a subject of great public interest" and had acted "responsibly", but did not deny the allegations. [7]

Also in spring 2006, London Student was one of few in the country to take a strong supportive stance of lecturers concerning the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), now the University and College Union (UCU), joint strike action as they fought for better pay and conditions. The story led the paper from Christmas onwards, with the exception of the issue containing 'Nailed on Sunday'.

In October 2013, the paper broke the story that departing University College London (UCL) Provost Malcolm Grant's leaving party cost the college over £17,000. The story was later picked up by local and national newspapers. [8]

In January 2018, London Student exposed the existence at UCL of secret conferences on eugenics and intelligence with speakers including white supremacists. [9] The story was picked up by the national papers, many crediting London Student in their reports. [10] [11]

Design

For many years, the newspaper was a red-top tabloid. This changed when Patrick Ward was editor, with a transition toward a midmarket newspaper that better matched the more serious journalistic style of the paper's contributors. The cultural pullout section also returned, under the new name of 'Play'.

In 2012, the newspaper had to cut back due to funding difficulties with ULU, meaning the paper was condensed, with many sections shortened, although none were removed.

The newspaper's format was heavily redesigned under Oscar Webb's tenure by Deputy Editor Adam Gillett, bringing it closer in style to a mainstream publication and introducing the redesigned 'The Smoke' culture section.

Culture section

"Play" was the London Student's culture pullout section, replaced by "The Smoke" in 2013 and "Skirr" in 2015. It had various pages devoted to certain cultural coverage, including Music, Arts, Food, Theatre and Fashion, as well as often multidisciplinary features. Each section often gained access to national press events, previews and interviews with significant artists or people prominent within each cultural discipline: Roots Manuva, Park Chan-Wook, Iain Rankin, British Sea Power, Doug Stanhope, Ruby Tandoh, Michael Horovitz, Of Montreal, The Coen Brothers and They Might Be Giants were featured in previous issues of the magazine, among other notable figures.

Past editors of the sections have included Rena Minegishi, Emma Hope Allwood, Bryony Bowie, Jake-Pace Lawrie, Robert Kiely, Kate Vine, Rina Buznea, Peter Yeung, Jack Kirby and Matt Williamson. After the proposed closure of the University of London Union in the 2014/15 academic year, "The Smoke" became the final edition of London Student's cultural supplement. "Skirr" replaced it in 2015/16 under the editorship of then London Student co-editors Dea Gjinovci, Ben Jackson, Ed Ive, James Smith, and Donato Paolo Mancini.

Competition

College magazines, such as University College London's Pi, King's College London's Roar and Queen Mary, University of London's Cub, generally offer a different style of coverage to London Student, there is genuine competition in terms of breaking news from five college newspapers: Felix at Imperial College London, The Beaver at the London School of Economics, The Lion at Heythrop College and The Orbital and The Founder at Royal Holloway, University of London, as well as investigative student publications such as UCL's The Cheese Grater. Editions of the commercial The Sanctuary newspaper added marginally to competition at University College London and the London School of Economics during the academic year 2007–8.

Sennet

Sennet was the direct predecessor of London Student. It was published from 1954. Its first three editors were Fred Allgood, Dinesh Kale and Peter Stamford. In 1959 the editor was Jean Rook, later best known for her long association with the Daily Express where she was nicknamed the "first lady of Fleet Street".

Extensive, though incomplete, archives of both newspapers are held at both the University of London's library, and the British Library Newspaper section in Colindale.

Related Research Articles

University College London is a public research university in London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.

<i>News of the World</i> 1843–2011 British tabloid newspaper

The News of the World was a weekly national "red top" tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations. It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies. The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969, it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. In 1984, as News Limited reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper transformed into a tabloid and became the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.

The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print, having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based The Straits Times on 15 July 1845. It was renamed as the New Straits Times on 13 August 1974.

<i>The Daily of the University of Washington</i> Student newspaper in Seattle, Washington

The Daily of the University of Washington is the student newspaper of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It is staffed entirely by University of Washington students, excluding the publisher, advertising adviser, accounting staff, and delivery staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toby Young</span> British journalist

Toby Daniel Moorsom Young is a British social commentator. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of The Spectator, creator of The Daily Sceptic blog and a former associate editor at Quillette.

<i>BH</i> (newspaper) Malaysian newspaper

BH is a Malay-language daily newspaper published in Malaysia. It is owned by the New Straits Times Press. BH was first published on 1 July 1957, marking its debut as a major daily newspaper in Malaysia. Its Sunday Edition, BH Ahad, was launched on 10 July 1960.

<i>Varsity</i> (Cambridge) Student newspaper at the University of Cambridge

Varsity is the oldest of Cambridge University's main student newspapers. It has been published continuously since 1947 and is one of only three fully independent student newspapers in the UK. It moved back to being a weekly publication in Michaelmas 2015, and is published every Friday during term time.

<i>Bangkok Post</i> Thai English-language newspaper (founded 1946)

The Bangkok Post is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount at the time when a baht was a paper note. It is Thailand's oldest newspaper still in publication. The daily circulation of the Bangkok Post is 110,000, 80 percent of which is distributed in Bangkok and the remainder nationwide. It is considered a newspaper of record for Thailand.

<i>Nouse</i> University of Yorks student newspaper and website

Nouse is a student newspaper and website at the University of York. It is the oldest registered society of, and funded by, the University of York Students' Union. Nouse was founded in 1964 by student Nigel Fountain, some twenty years before its rival York Vision. The newspaper is printed three times in each of the Autumn and Spring terms, and twice in the Summer term, with frequent website updates in between print runs. As of June 2022, Nouse has printed 500 editions.

<i>UCL Pi Media</i> Student journalism society

UCL Pi Media is the oldest continuously running student journalism society at University College London Union. Initially launched as a newspaper in 1946 and named after former Provost David Pye, it now publishes on three platforms: Pi Online, Pi Magazine and PiTV.

<i>Exeposé</i> Official student-run newspaper of the University of Exeter

Exeposé is the official student-run newspaper of the University of Exeter. It has a fortnightly print circulation of 1,000. Exeposé is free and published every fortnight during term time. Its sections include news, features, lifestyle, science, satire, sport, screen, music, arts and lit, tech, comment and international.

<i>The Medical Student</i>

The Medical Student (TMS) is a monthly print newspaper published entirely by full-time medical students from the five medical schools in London (King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Imperial College School of Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UCL Medical School, St George's, University of London). TMS is affiliated to London Medgroup, a collective body of Students' Union presidents and British Medical Association representatives from each of the five member medical schools.

Portland State Vanguard, formerly known as the Daily Vanguard and Vet's Extended, is an independent student newspaper for Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon, United States.

<i>Redbrick</i> (newspaper)

Redbrick is the student newspaper of the University of Birmingham. Originally titled Guild News, the newspaper was renamed Redbrick in 1962. As with most student newspapers, Redbrick is not fully independent due to funding arrangements, but is editorially independent as is set out in its charter.

<i>Palatinate</i> (newspaper) Durham University student newspaper

Palatinate is the student newspaper of Durham University. One of Britain's oldest student publications, Palatinate is frequently ranked as one of the leading student outlets in the UK and Ireland, winning Best Publication in the Student Publication Association's 2018 and 2021 national awards. The name of the newspaper derives from the colour palatinate, a shade of purple closely associated with the university and derived from County Durham's political history as a County Palatine. It published its first edition on 17 March 1948.

The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the Daily Mail, was first published in 1896.

<i>York Vision</i>

York Vision is one of two student newspapers at the University of York. Vision is a registered society of, and is funded by the University of York Students' Union (YUSU).

<i>Roar News</i>

Roar News is the student newspaper of King's College London. It is editorially independent of both the university and the students' union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerhard Meisenberg</span> German biochemist (born 1953)

Gerhard Meisenberg is a German biochemist. As of 2018, he was a professor of physiology and biochemistry at Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica. He is a director, with Richard Lynn, of the Pioneer Fund, which has been described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He was, until 2018 or 2019, the editor-in-chief of Mankind Quarterly, which is commonly described as a white supremacist journal and purveyor of scientific racism.

The London Conference on Intelligence (LCI) is an invitation-only conference for research on human intelligence, including race and intelligence and eugenics. In 2018, Times Higher Education called it "an annual conference on eugenics and intelligence" and several news outlets have described the conference as having ties to white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and scientific racism.

References

  1. ↑ "lsnews relaunch page". Londonstudent.coop. Retrieved 17 January 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ "About London Student newspaper |London Student". Londonstudent.coop. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Helena Horton. "Europe's largest student newspaper to close after union loses battle to save it | Education". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Letters (15 July 2014). "Closure of London Student newspaper is an affront to free thought". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ "#SPANC16 Award Winners Announced". Student Publication Association. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Full List of #SPANC17 Award Winners Announced". Student Publication Awards. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Day, Julia (10 March 2006). "MoS under fire from student press". The Guardian. London.
  8. ↑ Burley, James (18 September 2013). "UCL Provost's leaving party costs nearly £18k". London-student.net. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Van Der Merwe, Ben. "Exposed: London's eugenics conference and its neo-Nazi links". London Student. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Bennett, Rosemary. "University College London under fire over its conferences on 'eugenics'". The Times. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  11. ↑ Rawlinson, Kevin; Adams, Richard. "UCL to investigate eugenics conference secretly held on campus". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.