Last weck Pi Media Society held an EGM during which a motion was successfully passed to merge Pi Newspaper with Pi Magazine. News and sport will move online, whereas Pi Magazine will gain additional sections previously covered by the paper, including science, and a new investigative section. This was only a merger in as much as a fox eating a dying pigeon can be said to be a merger. Pi Magazine has improved greatly over the last two years, from glossy nothingness to a much higher quality publication than Pi Newspaper and now Pi Magazine has gobbled up its weaker sister publication.
The death of the paper has been on the cards for a while. Killian Redden, Pi and others were Magazine editor-in-chief overheard discussing it at the UCLU Arts Ball in May. The merger emanated from a ‘clique’ made up of the two magazine editors, Malika Giles and Killian Redden, and two magazine section editors, Louis Robertson and Ghada Habib, who all live together. Ex-editor of the newspaper Ava Lloyd said “as soon as Killian and Malika were elected they made it clear to me that they were planning a merger” Killian and Malika persuaded Pi Media society President Hayley Cameron to get on board, finally leading to the merger being accepted with only one vote against it.
Pi Newspaper has been in a sorry state this year. A redesign spearheaded by co-editor Kit Weaver left the front page looking horrible. A huge amount of space was devoted to advertising “classic games and puzzles on the back page” There was one puzzle, a crossword, which was easily discovered by turning the paper over. The headlines read like bizarre snatches of overheard conversa- tions “Arts societies take performances on tour” and “Bloomsbury Mas- terplan leading to ‘death of community’ in East London and potential ransack of student space”. The latter is long and false whereas the former is true but boring. Kit Weaver quickly resigned a month before the EGM.
However, the merger was not sold to Pi members on the grounds of specific in- competence. Instead, it was passed on the ticket that there are fundamental prob- lems with the very idea of having a print- edition student paper at UCL. Hayley Cameron in an email to members said “it is impossible to print a weekly newspaper” and because of this “Pi Newspaper has lost its relevance”. The reasons cited for this at the EGM were the lack of a sabbatical editor and the rise of online media. The emergence of The Tab, an online tabloid concerning UCL, put pressure on Pi to make changes. It wasn't that The Tab took Pi Newspaper’s readers, as it didn't really have any to begin with. It was more that The Tab, with its 16,000 hits a week, had challenged Pi by demonstrating that stu- dents are actually interested in reading the news. By moving Pi's news content online the hope is to gain a share in this market.
The Pi website, which has historically been neglected, has received some atten- tion this year — several hundred pounds were paid out for a large scale redesign. Unfortunately, this updated design makes a feature of highlighting the three separate wings of Pi: magazine, paper and media. As one of these wings is now de- funct the designer will need to be paid again. Renewed attention to the website has been more of the financial kind rather than the actually-giving-a-shit kind. Is- sue no. 44, which came out almost two months ago, has still not been put online. If the website wants to approach The Tab's levels on readers, the site’s editors-in-chief have to start putting up daily content in order to encourage repeat visits. The problem is that they have restricted their online content to news and sport only. There simply isn't enough news at UCL to have content every day — The Tab keeps its website full through comment pieces. UCL deserves a good student news- paper, something of broadsheet scope to provide a foil to The Tab. Good student papers like Oxford University’s The Cher- well axe run on the enthusiasm, serious- ness and dedication of their non-sabbat- ical editors. In passing the merger under the banner of inevitable change, Pi have failed to admit how much these qualities were lacking both in the print issue of the newspaper and in their attitude to their website. Our hope is that the merger will break Pi’s stale habits and allow the edi- tors to demonstrate these qualities.