Censored

On the front page of Edinburgh University student newspaper, The Student, where there should be a great splash – a big exposé concerning scandal directed at Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA), there is just one word – “CENSORED.”

It is clear that they have a great story on their hands, one that student journalists have spent hours of their voluntary time and effort putting together, because the Union have gone to similar lengths to gag them, to take out an interdict on the story which also bans them from publishing “any material purporting to suggest that the pursuer is an organisation which is poorly governed and whose management are inexperienced and unaccountable.”

The story was due to include details of the suspension of Max Crema, vice-president for services at the Union. EUSA claim he is out of office for “personal reasons” but it is rumoured that, in fact, his absence has more to do with a breakdown in relations with the Union.

The ban came when the paper had already gone to print, and The Student are now left with 4000 useless newspapers sitting in their office. EUSA will know how many hours of hard work go into creating each issue of the paper, but what the students involved will care about far more is that a big story in the interest of the public, the sort of story which makes their jobs valuable and indeed worth anything at all, has been censored for nothing more than self-preservation.

If student media outlets are not allowed to criticize their students’ unions and hold universities to account, then what are they but hyped up marketing tools? If the unions had their way then the papers would be nothing more than PR machines.

Whilst the Leveson enquiry has called for more regulation of the national press, for student journalism exactly the opposite is needed. There have been high profile cases of the media being gagged across universities nationwide. Sheffield University’s Forge Press were recently banned from distributing to accommodation by the University because they wrote a story about the University allegedly using a loophole to cut staff wages, and the University did not want the negative press reaching freshers so early in their university careers. There is no ethical reason behind this curtailing of the media; Forge Press were doing nothing illegal, they were just doing their job, and for doing it well, they were punished.

Similar issues have occurred at Leeds and Loughborough in recent times. At UCL, a major story about a union officer suspended for offensive tweets about missing child April Jones was pushed backwards in the paper and turned into a story so small it did not even look worth reading, simply because the Union had the power to do so.

Unions and universities will do everything they can to cover their backs and make themselves look good. If student media is threatening their image then they will not be afraid to gag them and even, as in Edinburgh’s case, take legal action against them.

A students’ union is, by definition, a group who’s sole mandate is to work for the good of its students. However, when it comes down to it, far too many will put their personal reputations, and the image of a small clique above the rights of its student body to hear news in its interest. Whilst it may seem natural to protect oneself against potentially damaging criticism, as a union officer, if what you are protecting yourself against is something that is for the good of the student population to know, this is undermining everything you supposedly stand for.

Student media is an extreme case of what too much regulation of the press can cause – powerful organisations at times picking and choosing what the people are allowed to know, based not on interest, but on potential harm caused to the organisations themselves. We would not accept this on a national level, so nor should it be acceptable at university.