We spoke to Emily Townsend about how she went from being a student journalist to investigations correspondent for Archant. What made you want to become a journalist? When I started my degree in English Literature, I had no clue where I wanted to be in five years. I had always…
A Q&A with Amy Borrett, a data journalist at the New Statesman Media Group. Amy completed the Financial Journalism MA at City, University of London in June 2020. What do financial journalists do? From my experience, financial journalists do a huge range of things depending on where they work and…
What is data journalism? Data journalism specialises in finding stories hidden in information and telling them in an engaging way – often using charts, maps and graphs. It can lead to breaking news stories on a deadline or deeper investigative looks at issues in a way traditional journalism often can’t.…
The road to becoming a journalist often starts with the NCTJ. Here is our comprehensive guide to what it is and how News Associates can help you get this all-important journalism qualification. What is the NCTJ? It stands for the National Council for the Training of Journalists. It is a charity which…
The Student Publication Association has renamed one of its eight regions, in the spirit of recognising growing diversity amongst student journalism in that region, and a commitment to ensure all members of the region are fairly represented. The ‘Ireland and Northern Ireland Region’ replaces the former ‘Ireland Region’, and covers…
The Student Publication Association has launched their 2021 Mentorship Scheme, following on from enormously successful previous iterations in 2018 and 2019, with applications open until New Year’s Day. The Mentorship Scheme will run from late January until the beginning of July. Mentees will be able to draw upon the experience…
Welcome to the all-new Student Publication Association monthly round-up – designed to give you a chance to find out a bit more about what the Executive Committee have been getting up to on a day-to-day basis throughout the month, and ensure we are a transparent, accountable organisation. We’ll aim to…
Freedom of Information requests are a valuable tool in the arsenal of any journalist, and a key tenet of democracy in the United Kingdom. The Student Publication Association (SPA) is concerned by the findings of openDemocracy’s ‘Art of Darkness’ report, released today, one finding of which is that a ‘Clearing…
Half of the UK’s student newspapers at the forefront of scrutiny of universities and colleges face closure within the next year as universities use COVID-19 funding pressures as an excuse to cut lifeline funding, research from the Student Publication Association (SPA) has shown. Just over half (52%) of publications surveyed…
Each year, the Student Publication Association appoints a few Project Officers, who join our team to help out with specific initiatives, from advocacy to assisting with our digital output. As we’ve just entered the 2020/21 year for the SPA, with a new Executive Committee and Board of Trustees, we’re recruiting…