What is student media? What is the importance of student media? Lot’s Wife travels to Sydney to find out, alongside more pressing questions: why is there a man with a macaw near the Sydney Opera House?
Student media has an illustrious history– Lot’s Wife, among dozens of other student media publications, serves as an alternative form of news and media, specific to the University campus that the publication occupies. Each student media publication has its own story, its own turbulent history and beginnings, and whether that concerns Farrago’s (University of Melbourne) geriatric 100 year history, or of Glass’s (Queensland University of Technology, shoutout to all Queenslanders ever) humble 2019 establishment, Lot’s Wife slots itself in as a chaotic, but well meaning contender to the student media team. Having just celebrated our 60th anniversary of publication, and having scoured decades worth of Lot’s Wife’s (Lot’s Wives?) for our archival and educational pursuits, the challenge was on: how many times can we explain the history of the name Lot’s Wife to all the conference goers?
Sam and I arrived in Sydney a few days before the conference; we saw the sights, went on a ferry, had a pork roll, caught up with our friends over at Radio Monash (who also attended) and then the conference was set to begin. The Opening Ceremony with Antoinette Lattouf was a great way to start off the conference; if you recognise the name, Lattouf was the plaintiff of an unfair dismissals case against ABC, and was criticised over her “controversial” views surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Student media, which remains one of very few independent media outlets today, is in a unique position, where the voices of students and student journalists demand to be heard; Lattouf’s coverage was not inherently controversial, but her existence as a Lebanese woman of colour speaking on a global conflict was. It was an important lesson that stuck with all attendees throughout the whole conference, and would become more pertinent with some of the other sessions we would go on to attend.
While there were a wide array of panels to go to over the three-day conference, Sam, Angus and I were only three people and we could only attend so many. Dr. Karl’s presentation on climate science was brilliant; Dr Karl clearly knew what he was talking about, and his presentation was captivating and much more optimistic than I’d anticipated. Climate change is a big scary topic, and it feels like much is left to the unknown, however I came out feeling lighter and feeling like I understood more about climate science than I knew coming in. While Angus was handling archives, Sam and I attended a panel discussion with Fatima Payman, who had Zoomed over from Perth, and we were really excited to discuss the importance of activism and standing for what you believe in, even if it comes at great expense.
Shoutout to our team over at Radio Monash, where President Georgie McColm joined other student radios across the country to talk about student radio, podcasts, and all things digital media; I wasn’t there (fatigue and generally being in Sydney had been very bad for my psyche) but I’m told it was great!
Student journalism across the ages was another really great panel; past editors of Tharunka (University of New South Wales), Honi Soit (University of Sydney) and Woroni (Australian National University) gave a really engaging panel discussion about the history of student media, the importance of it, and the challenges they faced. Shockingly (sarcastic), the challenges they faced were the same ones we do today.
I suppose that was the theme of the whole conference; you are not alone. Student media, as controversial and messy as it can be, is fraught with a whole slew of challenges that are independent to us, and while the can seem like the biggest deals in the entire world when you’re in your office by yourself, there’s a sliver of comfort that you can derive from knowing that someone, somewhere, at any given time, in New South Wales or South Australia or even down the M1 at the University of Melbourne, is also threatening to rip their hair out over the same grievances as you. For every time InDesign has shut down your poor overworked Macbook, someone else is having tech issues and is trying the good ol’ turn it off and turn it off again approach. For every time your budget was cut or your work was censored, you’re (likely to be, sorry Woroni you don’t count!) begging your student union representatives for more money or more lenience. For every student journalist/editor who committed to coming to Ballarat for NUS NatCon and never went again, there are a million more even worse NatCon stories.
The entire conference closed out with a night at the museum, where all of us dressed up and had a great time listening to our keynote speaker, Vic Zerbst. We then moved onto superlatives, where Lot’s Wife received “Most Biblical”, where I’d argue we are the only biblical publication, and Radio Monash received “Most Intact Roof” (if you know you know), and then all the Monash people did kick ons at a Record Bar (very Radio Monash), because we were not going to conclude a week of drinking without even more drinking.
While I don’t want to derive the three day conference into something as Disney movie-esque as you are not alone, it was the message that I derived from it, and hey, if you don’t believe me, I guess you’ll just have to go next year.
Thank yous
Thank you to the whole editorial team at Honi Soit, you guys are legends and I’m super happy we hopped on an impromptu Zoom call a month ago where you personally invited us to go to the conference! Thank you to Zeina and Sandra, who coordinated that interview, you guys were so lovely in real life (“your Angus has to meet our Angus”). Thank you to Ariana, Joel and Ben who coordinated the whole conference, it was probably a logistical nightmare and I’m glad it was you rather than me. To everyone we met as well, thank you! Whether the conversation was thirty minutes or two, we all appreciated it nonetheless. I felt like that scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home where Andrew Garfield says “I love you guys” and no one says it back.
