Last
updated: 11/02/08
Newspaper
forced to remove front cover
A
student newspaper has been forced to remove its front cover after a
complaint was received about its lead story.
The piece on unclaimed student bursaries, in the February 6 edition
of the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU) newspaper
Pugwash News, featured a statement from NUS vice president for education
Wes Streeting stating that the funds meant for students were ‘lining
the pockets of vice chancellors’ nation-wide. The Pugwash piece
focused specifically on bursaries meant for students in Portsmouth and
consequently may have implied that Streeting’s comments were directed
at Portsmouth vice chancellors.
A source at the university told The National Student that following
the report the university demanded the removal of the article in print
and online and threatened the student’s union with legal action.
In response all copies of Pugwash News were recalled and the offending
front-covers removed before the paper was redistributed. The online
edition has also been temporarily removed.
Speaking to The National Student, UPSU Media and Publications officer
Alex Harries described the language used in the article as ‘unfortunate’.
“The article was unfortunately worded. Some of the language used
was a little bit contentious, and certain aspects of it were certainly
not clear,” he said.
“I think the article, unfortunately, put us in a position that
was unnecessarily confrontational. I think the onus is now on the union
to rectify that. We have a message and it is important that we put our
message across clearly, which I think the article didn’t do. The
author did seem to cause offence with their choice of language. The
university felt that the comment [from Wes Streeting] wasn’t clearly
presented as a generalisation about national vice chancellor’s
not simply those at Portsmouth,” he added.
Harries said the article is currently being re-written and they hope
to re-publish it online and potentially in the next print issue of Pugwash
News. He added that to his knowledge ‘no external action’
is being taken against the article’s writers and that he hoped
the action taken by UPSU would solve the issues with the university.
He also stated that the union were now looking into improvements that
could be made in the editorial process so similar mistakes were not
made in future.
“To improve on things in future, we are undergoing an extensive
review of how articles progress through the system before going to print.
This episode has been an unfortunate side effect of the learning process,”
he said.
