Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Student Journalist
Written by Jorge Lopez Llorente, an undergraduate at Mansfield College.
Journalism is everywhere, but that whirlwind of articles and broadcasts and interviews must come from somewhere. So how does one develop into a journalist? Let’s go back to the beginning. Student journalism deserves attention as a starting point on the path towards professional media. As a student journalist myself, aspiring to work in the profession after university, I’m realising how much potential student media has — despite its many limitations. Well, that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m writing articles like this here… Not at all… But a biased student can still have some insight into journalism’s cruder flip-side, although less ‘professionally’ (or else you wouldn’t read this, right?).
If you thought that student journalism was just an easy-going occasional hobby, as passive and unobtrusive as knitting on Sundays, I’m afraid that is ‘fake news’… It may be the case for other students who only pitch articles now and then, like me in my first year, but I’ve soon discovered how often you must adapt quickly to complications, getting your hands dirty, to get the best out of student media. The student journalist needs alertness, dealing with many pragmatic issues: extra email storms (especially for interviews), last-minute editorial adjustments, troubleshooting… If you work as editor for the student newspaper Cherwell, there’s even dirty work like distributing the newspaper copies to colleges yourself, which is done on a rota. Of course, it’s an ideal springboard for careers, but it isn’t just CV material. It means active involvement. It isn’t like office-work internships either, because you should bring some spontaneity, some creativity into journalism or it withers. For example, when I interviewed academics, for ox.ac.uk on Medium, I learnt more interview skills by creative improvisation on the spot, because academics tend to open many topics at once, so you have to redirect the conversation as you go, catching the best ideas. Also, as if the fast-lane blur of Oxford life wasn’t enough already, writing or broadcasting coexists with deadlines and social life, which is perfectly manageable (and makes refreshing variety), but can be a shaky balancing act. It’s fun, but it’s pressure.
Limitations are both bugbear and buzz for student journalism. When you aren’t looking, behind the scenes nothing is so sleek. For example, take student radio. This term, I joined Oxide Radio, Oxford’s only student radio station, sponsored by the Student Union, and I present a solo live show there. Listeners hear my supposedly dulcet tones floating away on the radio waves… But, in fact, we broadcast from a cramped studio with effective but occasionally dodgy equipment. Noise like sirens from outside can be heard when recording too. A Terry Wogan will be naturally elegant and vivid, but such high-flying presenters’ words don’t rise from the heat of the moment. There’s a lot behind them: sound technicians, scripts usually written by scriptwriters, personalised marketing and more. Very few professionals broadcast without this. In student radio, you stand on your own feet. My show needs unscripted improvisation (as I don’t have time to prepare scripts every week) and, without sound technicians, you learn to multi-task better, talking while playing music. Especially on my first broadcast, it can be daunting to speak to the void and digress spontaneously during an hour. That’s the thrill though! Electrifying as it is, this experience is entangled with electrical and technical problems that torment all student presenters: 10 minutes before broadcasting something might not work, so I’d need to text our technical coordinator, trying to follow his instructions quickly, despite my clumsiness, to fix it myself.
Kudos to editors’ and coordinators’ double efforts in student media: they deal with their own projects as well as helping others. My friend Jonnie Barrow, another aspiring journalist, has now become an editor for Cherwell’s Film and TV section, after writing film reviews regularly. He’s given me an insider’s view of that role: he really enjoys the job, recommending it as learning experience, but admits that there are stressful weeks when laying out columns for print goes awry or when contributions need severe makeovers. For example, once his co-editor had to edit an outright sexist film review for Valentine’s Day within an inch of its life. “It takes a long time to fix pieces like that”, he explains, “but that’s good practice and it’s all a learning process”. It’s a learning process too for first-time contributors to develop their skills and student journalism is based on this sort of team-work, open for any students to learn and work together. For Jonnie, “the best part of being an editor is working with an awesome team, so that problematic things like laying out or editing articles can be fun and worthwhile”. Such challenges are part of our journalistic enthusiasm.
Overall, is all this worth it? Headlines in student newspapers like Cherwell or The Oxford Student (OxStu) about colleges changing tenancy agreements or debates about scholars’ gowns are not big scoops. Student news does matter to most students though. And some radio shows have many listeners. Awful writing can take hold too: Cherwell’s cover page is often sensationalist and OxStu includes some dull pointless articles, like a rant about relationships that I once read — how illuminating. However, if you ask me, I’d rather flick through Cherwell or OxStu than most ‘professional’ UK tabloids. Regarding content, I find most articles enjoyable and Oxide Radio offers fascinating variety, now with many more shows, leaving each presenter free to be as creative as s/he wants. Also, rarely, if ever, will you find in The Guardian or BBC Radio 2 an interview with a record-breaking commuter who aims to ride almost all Oxford buses, but you’ll hear it on a colleague’s Oxide show. Rarely will you read honest reflections about student experiences or what it’s like to suffer from mental health problems, which I’ve found in Cherwell and OxStu. Rarely will professional journalists contemplate their own job, but here goes this ‘metajournalistic’ article.
What appeals to me in student journalism is this freedom to tackle quirky subjects with a down-to-earth directness. Its means may be sloppier, but then it’s more authentic than if sophisticated teams were to set up everything perfectly. In the same radio station, you could hear RP and Cockney; in the same newspaper, there’ll be pretentious writing and jokey articles; some get overexcited at a play, others spill glib outrage at politics; but all tends to be raw and recognisable. Rawness is rare! Being less influential in society, and in Cherwell’s case being independent, student media tend to have less to hide, fewer additives, less sugar-coating, fewer suits and ties, far fewer cogs in power machines. Just a fellow like me, somebody you may see in lectures, typing away.
Student journalism is a bumpy ride to who-knows-where, but if it runs low on experience, perfected skill or funding, it’s fuelled by people’s drive for self-organisation and collaboration. Oxford University doesn’t offer a Journalism BA, but surely student journalism is the way to learn skills of the trade. Facing its shortcomings tempers us more effectively for the ‘real world’ of journalists. The course of true journalism never did run smooth! That’s its charm.
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