An Introduction from the Editor

For the last year or so I have been working as the head of the POW! Magazine, maintaining the online blog and looking into its publication. It’s been a long and complicated process – a true rollercoaster, full of highs and lows, ups and downs, challenges and successes. At the end of the last academic year we had a close call and almost published our first printed magazine in two years. However, due to unforeseen challenges, it proved impossible in the end.

This was the fire I needed to start me on a new path and a new project – introducing a student newspaper to campus.

I’m a strong believer in the power of journalism. There is an inarguable need for the media in the modern world. It observes and documents and allows the population to access information that would otherwise be entirely inaccessible. Politics and global news topics particularly have benefitted from the rise of media and journalism. The ‘pulling back of the curtain’ so-to-speak has allowed the population to have a better understanding of what it is going on around them, and has allowed them to comment and critique the situation as required. It allows us to point out what is fair or unfair in the world, what needs changing, what is hurting our society the most.

It therefore felt essential for me to introduce onto our campus somewhere for this information to be provided. Somewhere that students could go to discover more about what’s really going on in their university, in our city – London – and what interests lie at the heart of our student body.

It was also important for me to provide a way for students to get their voices heard. Whether their passion lies in their course – whatever that may be – or politics, arts, technology, entertainment. If a student wanted to say something, they needed somewhere to say it. So that’s what I present to you here.

Natalie has been acting as editor of POW! Magazine for the past year. She has taken on a variety of projects to revitalise the POW! brand and bring more journalism to campus. Here she introduces her main aims for The Middlesex Echo and explains why she set up this student newspaper.

Each issue of this newspaper will contain a variety of human-interest articles, opinion pieces, current events and news topics, columns from students with unique points-of-view, advice and reviews, and anything else we can find. We are in the process of setting up a more structured work-environment here at The Middlesex Echo, and we will also be looking for sub-editors to lead teams of writers and help with creating spreads.

I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed creating it; and, if you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to get involved!