THIS YEAR, UCLU launched The Onion; a publication with many uses – primarily as a coaster for your overpriced cuppa in the Print Room Café. The anticipated yearly cost of The Onion is £6,628. While most of the expense will be sourced from the Union publicity machine, rumours have been circulating that the shortfall (£2,584) will be met by grant cuts to existing UCL media societies. Particularly worried are Pi, who receive by far the largest grant of any student publication – a whopping £10,000.
Front-page flops
You’d think this might serve as a kick up the arse to Pi, whose failures to provide adequate value for money are proverbial among UCL students. Well, apparently not, since the last two front-page stories in Pi Newspaper have been poorly written, factually inaccurate and potentially libellous. The recent story on the ULU elections showed a complete disinterest in the truth and a willingness to rely on the word of some conspicuously unnamed UCLU Sabbs. And it’s not like Pi don’t have the staff. A letter from one despairing reader in the latest issue of Pi Newspaper began “please for the love of God, let me proof-read the next issue of your magazine.”
Drunk and disorderly
Perhaps the problem lies with the insularity of the Pi editorial teams, perfectly demonstrated at their recent AGM. The meeting was chaired by President Chris Blanchard, who in the words of one attendee “seemed pretty out of it”. Maybe something to do with the Kronenburg he was swigging at the time. Before voting began to elect next year’s positions, Blanchard completely undermined the democratic process by announcing the candidates ‘recommended’ by the current editorial committee. Not that the elections really mattered since he then proposed an amendment to the Pi constitution that would allow current editors to reallocate elected positions to those deemed more “deserving” of the role. He claimed that this was “vital to the future of Pi” and that those who voted against the motion (six in total) would be “taken out and shot.”
Feeling nauseous
And all this after Blanchard claimed in his last editorial for Pi Newspaper that he had been “gradually squeezing out a nauseous culture of ego-driven, narcissistic pseudo-journalism.” Then again, as Blanchard said himself, with two of next year’s Sabb team being ex-Pi editors, they can probably relax.