Nouse.co.uk » The media’s duty to its readers

The media’s duty to its readers

June 30, 2009
Nouse

If Vision, Nouse, URY and YSTVâ€™s position in the formerâ€™s latest annual Power List left you cold, the perceived â€˜powerâ€™ of the campus media was surely felt – albeit incorrectly – by outraged Economics students two weeks ago who, when presented with examination results over 20% lower on average than the previous year, blamed this newspaper and its Editor for â€œrobbing them of their Firstsâ€.

This was, despite being an understandably intuitive response, untrue. The blame instead lay with the departmentâ€™s examination criteria, and specifically the communication of that criteria to students.

Ironically, this newspaper began its investigations into the examination policy used by the department for the module in question after receiving worries from participating students and the YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer.

The departmentâ€™s refutation of any across-the-board grade lowering and admittance of examination failures should convince those students and elected representatives that they have unfairly chosen to cast this newspaper in the role of villian in this particular pantomime.

This newspaper, and all YUM societies, exist to promote the interests of students, and act – in some cases – as powerful mediums to hold bodies, such as academic departments, to account. They should be used as such.