Student Media and Union Censorship

The Student Publication Association (SPA) is very much in its infancy, especially when compared to other media associations, such as the Student Radio Association. This is particularly surprising considering nearly every university has a newspaper, either independently ran or overseen by their union, like Felix.

With this in mind, is there even a need for the SPA, if it is apparent that publications have been running successfully without this overarching representation? Not only that, but what can the SPA actually do?

After talking to other editors of the various newspapers and magazines across the country, it seems that the interactions some publications have with their respective institutions are in fact often strained, and sometimes pushed to breaking point.

There seems to be a spectrum of censorship across student media, and it seems that few publications are true avenues for free student press. I spoke to editors that were effectively usurped by censoring sabbaticals, others that had their publications hidden during open days, and yet others that were censored by media or communication sabbaticals hell-bent on protecting the reputation of institutions at the cost of free speech.

One of my manifesto points was to reduce the union influence over the publication, and after attending SPANC, it has come to light just how important this will be to uphold. The position of Felix within this censorship spectrum has wavered over the years, and at the moment the relationship between the paper and the union is a pleasant one, but we need to ensure that this continues.

Joining the SPA executive committee was a decision I made because I believe that student newspapers, regardless of their financial background, should not be limited in what they print as long as it is factually accurate and within the interest of the student body.

Our motto is to “keep the cat free,” and is something I will always uphold, despite being forever grateful that the union keeps us financially in the black. However, there will always be times where simply repeating such an aphorism will not be enough, so hopefully one day, through the framework of the SPA, we will be able to turn to other publications for advice, support and aid, and vice versa. The successes of Felix can be used as inspiration for some publications, whilst we can draw off the strengths of others.

Through this unification of student publications, the SPA will be able to reach out to unions and universities alike to promote the benefits and indeed the rights of student media, and also keep them in check should things go awry. Not only that, the SPA has the potential to introduce workshops to train student journalists, run future conferences to facilitate personal and professional networking between both student and full-time journalists and their publications, develop a media ethics code, and enhance their awards system to introduce a standardised seal of approval for all the work student publications produce.

The SPA is not promising to deliver all of this all at once, but it definitely has the capacity to do so, and is something I am willing to support as much as I possibly can. The student voice is a powerful one, and hopefully by unifying all of the avenues that propagate this voice, it can reach its full potential.