On April 17 Nouse brought together the top student papers in the UK for a unique meeting. The Future of British Journalism gathered 140 student journalists from over 40 papers, with everyone from Bristol and UCL to Oxford and Edinburgh attending.
The evening hosted some of the biggest names in journalism in a rare debate on how print media is changing, with John Witherow, editor of The Times, being joined by Sarah Baxter, editor of The Sunday Times Magazine and Ian Katz, deputy editor at The Guardian. The panel was hosted by political commentator Steve Richards.
A video of the night has now been released online at www.grapevinevents.co.uk.
The panelists struck an optimistic note, talking of how new medias were allowing them to do more, not forcing them to do less. Ian Katz talked of how, 'We can do things journalistically that we couldn't have imagined even four or five years... journalism is exploding into something infinitely more powerful and exciting.' 'Forget the fifties and sixties, now is the golden age of journalism.'
The evening kicked off with a reception, with papers sprawled across the tables of Paddington's Frontline Club members room, alongside copies of Prospect and literature from the night's sponsors, Cardiff School of Journalism, Teach First and City University London.
The main panel was preceded by a lively panel of young journalists, from Times Banking editor Sam Coates and Guardian Data editor James Ball, to the Evening Standard's Joshi Hermann, Sunday Times' Lucie Fisher and Jennifer O'Mahony of the Daily Telegraph.
They dealt advice through their stories, with Ball at one point remarking, 'If you don't know numbers, piss off right now...'. Coates spoke of how 'extraordinarily passionate' he was about getting people into journalism. Recounting Air Force One and being held at gun-point he implored, 'All of this is exciting and it's different and it's quite unlike any other career... remember that when you look at the mountain that is getting into journalism'.
The event was organised by Grapevine London, the non-editorial side of Nouse, the University of York's student paper. It was a chance to meet one another, learn from a range of speakers and bring closer together the most exciting publications from across the UK. It existed to get student journalists talking to each other, something that will hopefully only continue.