BY JOSH MARR
At 07:20pm on 07/09/20, Plymouth Gazette was officially voted in as a Student Society at the University of Plymouth by society leaders in this evening’s Society Forum. This means that you, the students, are able to become members of Plymouth Gazette for the minimal cost of £10 per academic year, with a one off £3 Student’s Union joining fee, to write, be creative and learn with us from September.
The Forum
Plymouth Gazette passed with flying colours through the Societies Forum with 80% of the vote in favour of us, and answering questions from Debate and GovSoc about editorial independence and how we will allocate the funds we get from members. PG‘s answers were, in a nutshell, that we absolutely do have editorial independence, championed by Verity Lemm (VP Activities) in the Forum, and that we will use the membership fee to invest back into the website, to hopefully subsidise events for the future and to invest in merchandising for members to represent the newspaper in Plymouth.
From reporting on essential changes within the UPSU and the University, to celebrating student achievements, we spoke of the importance that Plymouth Gazette will bring to the day-to-day life of students. PG will bring a balanced way of reporting on student issues to the forefront of our agenda, meaning that we will, to the best of our ability, include every side of the story which is being published. Being editorially independent, PG will strive to get answers to the difficult questions about the UPSU, the University, and the housing companies, as well as run campaigns to improve student life.
As well as funding and legal protection from the SU, being a Student Society will mean that we will get a vote at all Society Forums in the coming months, to decide whether new societies are formed. PG‘s committee have had an extensive conversation about how to vote and have decided to abstain from voting for every new society that is pitched. This is on the premise that PG does not decide what is controversial; it is the students themselves who come to a consensus about what is good or bad and by abstaining we can look at the bigger picture of events that will happen with that society and report on them in a neutral way.
For September
PG will align itself with the National Union of Journalist’s Code of Conduct but will not be directly affiliated with them. This Code of Conduct sets a standard for good and fair journalism across the United Kingdom and we will meet that standard every day.
PG‘s editorial will remain politically neutral so we are able to look at the whole picture and to explore nuances within topics discussed. This does not mean that all opinion pieces will remain politically neutral. We understand that people have opinions and these opinions being published in a sensible way is the basis of a healthy discussion and democracy. For that reason all opinion pieces will be labelled as such, as well as encouraging people from all political backgrounds to come to write for us, so that we get the opinions of the Right, the Centre, and the Left on important topics relating to Plymouth and student life. We will publish these articles on a basis that everyone has an equal say, and that we can explore the differences and similarities between us all. We will not publish an article relating to either Wing of the political spectrum until all Wings have been explored within the previous topic. It is this circular way of publishing that we will abide by moving into the future.
Moreover, the committee have discussed ways in which we will be able to improve the service that we can provide to students, and one way is by hosting training and workshops for members of PG and for others who want to take part. Though this has not been decided as a definite because of the current social distancing restrictions, it is something that we would like to do in the future.
Let’s Have Some Fun!
We are a constantly learning and evolving newspaper. We will be consistently improving our service to you and we are committed to continually improve our writing ability and communication skills.
PG most of all, was set up as a positive outlet for students to interact with one another and for people to identify with a society they might not have in the past. We are having fun in the process of creating interesting and enticing stories relating to the University and student life and we want you to have fun too!
Plymouth Gazette looks forward to having you join us in September!