London Student

London Student is the newspaper of the University of London Union. It began publishing in 1979. It is an editorially independent publication with ultimate control over content and editorial appointments vested in the elected full-time Editor, who is currently Hesham Zakai.^[1]

It distributes 12,500 copies fortnightly during termtime throughout the university year, equating to approximately 12 issues annually. 20,000 copies of 2007's Freshers' Issue were distributed, up from 14,000 in 2006.

Editors

The editor of London Student is chosen annually by an election in which all University of London students are entitled to vote. The current editor is Hesham Zakai.

Previous editors include:

• 2011-2012: Hesham Zakai
• 2010-11: Joe Rennison
• 2009-10: Hilary Aked
• 2008-9: Kat Lay
• 2007-8: Elinor Zuke
• 2006-7:John Kenchington
• 2005-6: Patrick Ward
• 2004-5: Alexi Duggins
• 2003-4: Lila Allen
• 2002-3: Clare-Marie White
• 2001-2: Fiona Sibley
• 2000-1: Stuart Butchers
• 1999-2000: Chris Campbell
• 1998-9: Tom Belton
• 1997-8: John Handelaar
• 1996-7: Sarah Shenker
• 1995-6: Ben Oliver
• 1994-5: Kevin Ashton
• 1993-4: Liz Llewellyn
• 1991-2 Louise Clarke
• 1990-1: Natasha Roe
• 1982-3: Chris Ward
• 1981-2: Sarah Lewthwaite
• 1980-1: Paul Segal
• 1991-2: Natalie Rodriguez

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

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.^[2]

Also in spring 2006, the paper was one of few in the country to take a strong supportive stance of lecturers regarding the AUT and NATFHE (now 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'.

Design

For many years, the newspaper was a red-top tabloid. This changed under Patrick Ward's editorship, 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 but none removed.

Play

"Play" is the London Student's culture pullout section. It has various pages devoted to certain cultural coverage, including "Stage", "Screen", "Print/Literature" and "Music". Impressively, each section often gains 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, and Michael Horovitz are just some of the people featured in the magazine. Past editors of the sections have included Jake-Pace Lawrie, Robert Kiely, Kate Vine, Rina Buznea, and the dastardly Matt Williamson.

Competition

Unlike the majority of UK student newspapers, London Student competes with other student-led publications for a readership. The newspapers and magazines of the constituent colleges of the University of London complement the newspaper's coverage of events. Although the 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 & The Founder at Royal Holloway, University of London. 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 at least 1954. Its editor in 1959 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.

References

External links

• London Student website

• London Student advertising information from the ULU website

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