Managing 'risky' student media

I've just come off a call with Libby Brown ACII and Jamie Robinson finalising the content plan for our upcoming Risky Business training. Something happened in that meeting that made me feel dead proud and in the interests of being more 'visible' on LinkedIn I'm writing about it now for you all to read about...

Talking to Libby about trends in students' union risk management, we considered the bigger things that keep students' union leaders up at night (comment on the post if you've got any of these on your mind and want to share. It's fascinating to me...)

Libby covered off some of the big hitters - external speakers, big parties, Jailbreaks and the like. Then she said - 'it used to be student media until we did the student media work'. Yes. This is exactly why I do what I do.

Storytime...

When I worked at NUS we worked closely with Endsleigh Insurance on a few projects. They called a meeting one day in 2017 and said there's been issues with lots of SU student media groups; lots of defamation cases and general poor practice around training and sign off. There was a real chance that student media might have to change drastically or, worse, cease to exist due to being deemed "too risky."

We put our heads together (alongside the Student Publications Association and the National Union of Journalists) and came up with the Student Media Guide. A short piece of guidance to help SUs and student leaders in student media to get the tighten up their training and approval processes. We printed a number of guides and spent months at events, sharing key insights with student unions.

The results? Student unions gained clarity on how to effectively run student newsrooms, while students received accessible guidance on essential media practices. More individuals—both students and staff—underwent media law training, equipping them with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of student journalism.

What that meant long term is a decline in cases around student media getting to insurers - less students' unions spending money and time on legal defence and insurance premiums staying reasonable around student media. Most importantly, student media outlets could continue their incredible work, providing students with invaluable experiences in journalism and the workings of a newsroom.

A Win for All

This piece of work was, and continues to be a significant —not just for student media, but for everyone involved. It’s a example of why I’m passionate about the work I do. We wanted students to be able to do what they want to do and this work enabled that to happen. It gives me huge satisfaction to identify systemic issues in student opportunities and do something to try and fix them. Particularly if it's about keeping opportunities going.