Notes From SPANC22

It is quite rare delegates from The Saint leave St Andrews on an ambassadorial mission to represent the paper. Having been nominated for four awards at the Student Publication Awards, however, we deemed journeying to the conference in Sheffield something that had to be done. 

Meeting other student publications there, and learning about best practice, was very helpful to me. Despite leaving The Saint in less than a month, I still want to see it thrive, and I want students working for the paper to have the best possible chance of making the transition from amateur to pro.

I will not speak for Olivia, but will try and provide my own thoughts on what The Saint can improve on, and in which aspects it is currently deficient. Though by no means a guide, I hope this will influence my successors in their decision-making and lead to consistent success at not just these awards but in terms of professional individual achievement also.

Much of this thinking is influenced by conversations with the wildly successful Editors of Palatinate, who we were lucky enough to sit with at the awards ceremony (and who did a great job of celebrating our own success despite their comparatively titanic Awards haul).

What is clear is that The Saint falls most short in its structure. Personalities make papers, especially in the Editorial and Executive teams, so making sure the most competent and enthusiastic students make it to positions in which they can be influential is vital.

With that in mind, the AGM "vote for your committee" system should go.

Instead, a system whereby successors are chosen by their predecessors would go further to ensure that the most competent (as opposed to the most popular) students reach the top, and are rewarded appropriately for their talent. 

I know from covering student politics for three years that more democracy (at this level) means lower engagement. Electing 12-15 positions every semester serves only to boost egos and increase apathy. The Saint suffers from this, with AGMs threatening to become popularity contests. It would be far better for those with experience of running the paper - those who are attached to it and therefore have its best interests at heart - to pick out the most able students to replace them.

Competency is always more desirable than popularity, and often there is gulf between the two.

This would also go some way to sorting the driving aspiration behind progressing at The Saint, which in many cases swings too far towards "CV fodder", and away from the more desirable "passion". The best CVs, in any case, come from those have a passion for what they do.

St Andrews is a relatively small university, population-wise, however. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, St Andrews was ranked 100 in terms of enrollment in the UK for the academic year 2020-2021. This makes it the smallest University to have its paper win an SPA award this year.

That isn't to say our pool of passionate student journalists is expected to be lower. Arguably St Andrews, the best university in the UK, should be brimming with journalistic talent, and students destined for the higher ranks of national newspapers. 

Throughout our year as Editors, however, we have noticed at points a marked apathy among the student body towards both local news and national trends and events. We have perhaps not done enough to report these things and bolster interest and curiosity, but St Andrews is unique as a university in its size, demographic, and geography.

Our successor can improve this by putting serious commitment into the News section, by hiring those who are willing to rock the boat, be annoying, and dedicate proper time to formulating their stories. An oversight by us, I believe, was commiting to the urgency of our print deadlines to the detriment of the quality of our stories. 

Like Palatinate, The Saint should have an Investigations Editor, who leads a team unconstricted by the requirement to print something every two weeks. We do not submit, and have not submitted, nearly enough FOIs. A culture of "being a nuisance" should not be in the least alien to The Saint.

We should also have emphasised the need for our reporters to collaborate closely on those stories, or investigations, that were of greater complexity. 

Obviously this will require, on a basic level, more news reporters - certainly more than registered interest in writing for us this year - and so it will be a challenge for our successor to boost interest and engagement with The Saint. This can be done by demonstrating a pride in the paper, emphasising our successes, and being publicly ambitious.

Where I in particular have erred in our hiring policy was prioritising quality of writing. I now realise that whilst bad copy can be edited, passion, curiosity, and bravery cannot be taught.

At SPANC we learned a bit about media law, and the legal threats we might face with certain stories. I urge our successor not to flinch from publishing difficult stories. Advice can be sought very easily should it need to be, and often it is those stories that come close to the line that it is most important to publish.

With that in mind, continued distancing from the Students' Association is absolutely vital. Many publications, we learned, were being censored by their Union, who were able to do so because of the threat of pulling funding. 

Whilst The Saint does not currently use its disaffiliated status to maximum advantage, it very much should in future. Holding the SU to account, whether that be in terms of policy or engagement, should be considered one of its foremost roles.

The paper would also benefit from the creation of new posts, as well as a constitution that sets out the expectations and responsibilities of each of its members. This way, there might be a mechanism by which people who do not come close to fulfilling these expectations can be replaced swiftly.

Many years ago we had a Design team - re-establishing this might prevent the Executive team staying up until 5am every other week correcting mistakes and ultimately lead to a more watertight publication. 

We have personally found it difficult motivating people to do their job as well as we needed them to. Throughout the year Olivia and I have not only directed the paper, but have also copy-edited, layed-out, edited sections in their entirety, commandeered social media, written news stories, and largely hauled The Saint through the academic year.

Whilst the majority of our team have performed admirably, I believe that many who are new to The Saint, as well as the student journalism world, would benefit from meeting those at other publications (as we have this past weekend). This might instill a sense of competitiveness, but also pride in the work that they currently don't feel due to the journalistic monopoly and relatively isolated status The Saint maintains. 

I hope that in future those who run The Saint make a point of organising socials and meet-ups with our neighbouring student publications. Tacked onto this, our successors might consider instating a position concerned with arranging these socials, as well as talks by journalists for our writers (Zoom of course suffices in this regard).

SPANC has given me food for thought on the ways The Saint can improve and both gain and uphold a status as a heavyweight at the SPAs year on year. I hope that these comments will act as the same for my successors.