THE LATEST ISSUE of Pi Squared includes an interesting piece regarding that much maligned “student” paper, Sanctuary. The article in question rages about the “Stolen Sanctuary Scandal”, in which copies of the non-UCLU newspaper delivered to the Union for distribution at the Freshers’ Fayre mysteriously disappeared.
For those unfamiliar with the Sanctuary, it is a profit-making newspaper that opened a franchise at UCL last year. Despite describing itself as an “independant” [sic] organ, the paper exists purely to make money from advertising.
The owner of all ten Sanctuary papers is one Tom Freeman, who in his own words is “the sort of sole evil corporate entity at the top, pulling all the strings.” When The Cheese Grater approached Freeman posing as a potential advertiser last year, he noted that he “can’t afford to lose advertisers” and strongly insisted that “before print we vet all the editorial” (See Cheese Grater issue 15). The only sense in which Sanctuary is “independent” then is that it remains unaffiliated to the university unions in which they distribute.
Media societies are affiliated to UCL Union to make sure student journalism is responsible and accountable to its audience. Pi Squared’s article accuses the sabbatical officers of binning 3000 copies of the Sanctuary, but doesn’t mention that since the newspaper is banned from Union property this would be the only decent thing to do. In fact, UCLU’s active stance against the banned paper is clearly noted in recent minutes from Arts Board. The Communications and Services Officer promised to liase with Union security to ensure that no further deliveries of Sancutary would be accepted and reiterated that, since Sanctuary remains unapproved by UCLU, its presence on Union property is completely illegal. Pi Squared will have to try harder the next time they try to generate “scandal”!