Student journalism in Durham and beyond

In light of Palatinate’s 75th anniversary, Martha Powell reflects on the importance of student journalism

The pull quote in Palatinate’s first edition, published on Wednesday 17 March 1948, was as follows: “I like men, but I frankly detest the undergraduate specimens. Insincere, a ected, self assured and bombastic, they grate upon the very fibres of my feminine sensibilities.” Even after 75 years of the paper, and although its format has changed vastly, many of its founding sentiments remain. Student journalism is fundamentally important, in its support of the student body and surrounding area.

I recently attended a journalism careers event, and one of the things that stood out to me most was just how useful student publications such as Palatinate can be in opening doors to graduate programmes and beyond. One panellist explained her confusion as to why budding journalists wouldn’t get involved with a student publication on their doorstep, and if the list of previous Editors-in-Chief is anything to go by, Palatinate acts as a diving board into a pool of careers in journalism.

Student publications such as Palatinate are a orded a unique privilege due to the youth of their contributors, who are particularly receptive to change. Young voices bring fresh perspectives to journalism, as well as flexibility and openness, which enables student media to excel. With the rise of digitised video media, such as TikTok, it is unsurprising that Durham’s student journalism adapted ahead of the curve, as evidenced by the launch of PalTV in 2020.

Other subsections of Palatinate have evolved throughout its history, such as the launch of arts and lifestyles magazine Indigo launching in 2008, and the science and technology section making an appearance in 2018. The addition of the Comment and Satire sections also demonstrate the breadth of student talent and interest, as the paper has evolved to showcase all of Durham’s literary and visual talent.

An often underrated part of the job as a student journalist is the amount of fun to be had in the pursuit of research or ‘adding to my CV’. In the few months that I have written for

Palatinate, I have watched films, scrolled through TikTok and landed myself in deep Twitter threads all without guilt that I am avoiding my summatives. In all seriousness, this paper has enabled me to participate in student life outside of academics, whilst still contributing towards something that I will look back on and be proud of.

Without the paper, I as a reader would be unaware of many ongoing events in and around Durham. I am regularly amazed by the breadth that this paper has to o er, spanning headline news, interviews, sport, and creative writing. There is something for everyone, whether you want to be informed or entertained.

However, Palatinate is

Without Palatinate, Durham’s student voice would lack cohesion and unity, therefore reducing its strength. As students, we are incredibly lucky to have been a orded a platform for student journalism that carries with it immense prestige and history, and which ensures that everyone’s voices are represented and their needs and interests taken into account. Palatinate has held the university accountable throughout its 75 year long tenure and I can only hope it continues to do so in features@palatinate.org.uk

I am not the first to suggest that student journalism is important, but I echo past iterations of this paper when I say that it is a fundamental pillar of the Durham experience. It is vital that Palatinate continues to operate as the torchbearer for Durham’s student voice, whether this is to protest rising house prices, celebrate our sporting successes, or just to air grievances over the male student body, 75 years later.

My favourite Indigo articles are those that delve a bit deeper into less-discussed aspects of the student experience, such as Velina Peykova’s article on the pressure to drink, or Dherran Titherington-Bragg’s article on disordered eating. Palatinate and Indigo are both fantastic platforms to explore these kinds of taboo topics.

My favourite Indigo article is called “Beyond the Durham bubble”, which explores the highs and lows of attending Durham University while living in Bowburn. The article was published at the height of 2022’s student housing crisis, and could not have come at a better time to help those students who felt pressured to find a house close to town!

Chloe Codling celebrates the paper’s history and muses on its future Palatinate in 2098

Since it was founded in 1948, Palatinate has given Durham students the opportunity to gain experience in journalism and to write about the issues they care most about. Every year sees a fresh cohort of aspiring writers who want to see their name in print, and Palatinate gives them the chance to do so. Over the years the paper has reported on a range of local, national and international news stories, and since 2008 Indigo has covered all things lifestyle, culture, and the arts. The success of the newspaper up to now is incredible, with the Palatinate widely considered one of the best student publications in the country, winning awards in 2018 and 2021. Not to mention the success of its video journalism platform, launched as PalatinateTV in 2020 and rebranded as PalTV the following year.

Palatinate has given Durham students the opportunity to gain experience in journalism and to write about the issues they care most about

Much of the success of the paper is credited to its adaptability, axing and introducing sections when demand requires, and venturing into online formats as patterns of media consumption change. With this in mind, let’s think about what Palatinate might look like 75 years from now.

Reporting on climate change

I don’t want to appear overly cynical, but it is impossible to think about life 75 years into the future without considering climate change. Perhaps the situation might be urgent enough by then to warrant its own section in the newspaper – if not, the topic will certainly feature heavily across the board. Food, fashion, and science & technology all play a key role in either contributing towards or mitigating the e ects of climate change, so it is a topic which will infiltrate most sections of the newspaper.

Covering local stories

Over the years, the newspaper has seen a shift away from reporting on far-o international a airs towards covering more local news stories. These are the stories which most directly impact students and the local populace, so I’d like to see the paper continue to report on issues such as housing crises and UCU clashes (although I certainly don’t wish for these problems to continue.) A focus on local a airs is also important in constructing a proud North East identity for the newspaper, and prevents the alienation of locals who might want to read the paper too.

Expansion of PalTV and online journalism

Recent years have seen shifts in patterns of media consumption across the world. It would not be a shock if by 2098 the newspaper stops publishing its print format, instead focusing exclusively on the online paper and video journalism outlets such as PalTV.

for local stories, and watching Instagram Reels or YouTube videos, a pattern which I predict will continue to head in this direction in our increasingly online world.

Social media

In a similar vein, I predict that the significance of social media – for promoting the newspaper, as well as influencing its content – will continue to increase. Perhaps Indigo will introduce an ‘Internet’ or ‘Social Media’ subsection, in which the latest trends are explored, celebrated or challenged. Although it is impossible to know whether a platform like TikTok will still be around by 2098 – who knows, maybe Vine will make a comeback – the influence that these trends have over the lives of young people is too tangible to not be reported on.

PalatiDates

Increasingly, news consumption is taking the form of listening to podcasts, asking your Alexa

Since The Independent reported in 2019 that 72% of Durham students find their future spouse at university, everyone wants a slice of Durham’s dating scene.

Hence PalatiDates, a matchmaking service from the stars. Although it is both a written segment of the paper and a YouTube series by PalTV, I predict that the PalTV series in particular will go from strength to strength, as the video format is easily consumable. Especially because dating sites are such a minefield and meeting people in person is becoming increasingly unlikely, PalatiDates is a great way to potentially meet the love of your life – and if not, at least it’s entertaining (for everyone else.) Lighthearted and funny series like these are key to the sustained engagement of a wide audience.

I see bright things ahead

I see bright things ahead for Palatinate. So long as the paper continues to report on the stories that matter then the publication will go from strength to strength. It has already proven its adaptability and awareness of readership demands. As long as it continues to listen to students, 2098 will see the successful celebration of 150 years of Palatinate.

visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk

Visual Arts Editor, Rae Rostron

From hobby to study, Visual Culture and Visual Arts have had many definitions over the years, and those definitions have led to di erent levels of respect in the critical field. As a historian of photography and archaeology, Christina Riggs has researched how the di erent fields of archaeology, art, and history have developed alongside colonialism.

As part of her research, Riggs was involved in organising and designing the exhibition currently on display outside of the Bill Bryson Library.

Photographing Tutankhamun came about from a collaboration with the Oriental Museum; “we kind of knew each other”, Riggs told us, and so the exhibition came about naturally as a commemoration of the “centenary celebration of the discovery of the tomb,” in November of 2019. Of course, the limitations of Covid-19 could not be avoided, and Riggs admitted that the exhibition was not an exact translation of what she had envisioned: “some of them [the boards] work together,” and she confirmed that she was proud of it as “a first attempt,” encouraging the future to hold better communication between institution and artist. The exhibition itself was originally designed thematically, focusing on sections regarding the tomb itself, the type of photography techniques used, the Egyptian archaeologists, and politicians, and one panel of reflection –answering the question of why the tomb was photographed at all. Though the final result took a more chronological approach, it has succeeded in being clear-cut, eye-catching and accessibly informative, accompanied with a text of only fifty words. Riggs told us that cramming “so much information into such a small text” is one of the most challenging parts of curating, so much so that she occasionally puts it forward as an assignment for her students: how much can you say about art in this tiny little space?

Riggs hopes that the next exhibition, or display, can be “in a more public area,” reaching the public and students alike. We then went into depth about the Professor’s own academic background. We asked about her interest in Egyptology. She replied that, “first, I’m not an Egyptologist. I was, but I don’t identify myself as that anymore. I pursued it – I did study it, I studied archaeology through BA and MA in the States and then I came to England to do my doctorate, so I worked on art from Ancient Egypt and then I went to work as a museum curator at my first job, after my PhD.” Despite an intense passion and interest in this field, Riggs revealed that it was there, at the University of Manchester, that she “was confronted physically and intellectually with the history of colonialism in museum collections. So whereas my training in Archaeology and Egyptology, and Classics, taught me to look at all this information about the past as if the knowledge of the past is apolitical: removed from the political context from which that knowledge was produced.” Speaking further about her experience working in a museum, Riggs replied that she was “faced, every day, with notes from a curator’s in the 1920’s handwriting which could have racist labelling – some in the galleries, some of it was also in storage.”

At first, Riggs told us that she had thought about staying within that label, so that she might “question or change the field from within”, but that eventually it caused her to “step out” and she has since privileged the “productivity of being undisciplined.” In this new realm of Visual Culture, Riggs began to focus more on photography: “photography is everywhere,” she claimed, “photography changes everything”.

Riggs shared her unique and fresh perspectives on the usage of not just Visual Art, but Visual Culture: “I like visual culture because art kind of suggests that something is made to be art; it’s made with a certain purposes. Visual culture maybe lets us bring in stu that circulates much more widely,” causing us to rethink how we had defined art and culture ourselves, and hopeful for what these new ideas about the field mean for the future. Our passion for Visual Culture was no doubt met with equal excitement and there is no doubt that the History of Visual Culture department is in safe hands.

The exhibition will remain outside of the Billy B until June 2023. So, the next time you’re on your way home from a lecture, or you fancy a quick study break, take a peek; look at the variety of expression, make the most of the timeline that shows you how and when the culture developed: in what ways, and by what means. Ask yourself what the purposes of Visual Culture can be and hold yourself accountable if you’ve ever dismissed it too quickly.

As Riggs simply puts: “It just underpins everything.”