All of a sudden five weeks of term have flown by and the first two editions of The River have left the capable hands of our student editorial team.
There has been a great deal of hard work, effort, innovation and good spirit amongst The River staff with some excellent stories making it into the newspaper and online. So as my stint as news editor comes to a close and I hand my news gathering responsibilities over to the lovely Rosie Williams, here is my take on some of the biggest exclusives The River has broken so far.
By now most Kingston students are familiar with the terrible case of violence bestowed upon a dead fox at the hands of drunken Freshers. Since the incident a few weeks ago, The River has revealed that two students have been evicted from Seething Wells halls and an innocent flatmate has been diagnosed with intestinal parasites, believed to be caught from the fox. We’ve had a great deal of feedback from students and have had a number of people come forward to challenge our findings and give their own take on what is proving to be a divisive and controversial story.
Our reporting has even peaked the interest of the local newspaper, the Surrey Comet, which excites us greatly. Reporter and chief layout on the first two editions, Jess Osbaldeston, and I had doors slammed in our faces, suffered dirty stares and witnessed a rather grim-looking bloodstain on the floor of the flat in question, but eventually we brought the story to light.
Journalism is about persistence and we were not going to rest until the story was out there.
Another of our exclusives that garnered reader reaction and dialogue was the story of the front page of our latest edition - students living in terribly damp conditions and getting ill as a result of mould in their flats. The temptation here was to centre the story on landlord negligence. But attention to the legalities in publishing in print and online pushed us to find another way.
Ironically, just hours after the newspaper was delivered from the printers on Friday morning and our excited team handed out copies to interested students, chief sub and incoming online editor, Isa Hemphrey, went home to find a guide from headed tenancy about how to reduce the risk of mould developing in your flat. As ever in journalism, timing is everything.
At any rate, it’s great to think that people may look at our mould story now and decide to do something about the conditions they’re living in. Being a financially-challenged student doesn’t mean you have to risk your health and live in squalor.
Over these past five weeks, we’ve laughed at the Mayor of London speeding away from Knights Park on a Raptor, camped on the pavement outside St Paul’s at the Occupy London protests, exposed poor living and financial conditions and maybe upset a few people along the way.
But what we do is for you, our readers. We love being able to celebrate student achievements and tell the stories of what makes Kingston University great, just as much as we like exposing the problems that affect student life for the worst.
We love Kingston. We love finding out what’s going on around us and sharing stories we hope make you laugh and cry. Most of all, we love it when you get involved.
But just because it’s reading week doesn’t mean The River is taking a break. We’ll still be chasing down leads, updating River Online and continuing to serve Kingston University and the local area.
Ashleigh Wight News Editor
