As I enter my final year of University, one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had is the community and work I have found through The Badger.
For three years, I’ve watched students work long hours, not for money or any sort of material gain, but out of passion, pitching stories, editing, and emailing late into the night, to bring important reporting to our campus. I have found this truly inspiring. From first-time writers to the Editor-in-Chief, everyone works tirelessly for the love of the game. Such dedication proves why student journalism is essential to our university.
An independent student newspaper serves as a watchdog on campus, holding institutions accountable. It ensures that all aspects of student life and the decisions affecting students are thoroughly reported, providing clarity and inviting scrutiny on important matters. Furthermore, our coverage of events such as Students’ Union elections offers a platform which would otherwise be impossible to find, allowing students to make well-informed decisions and shape the Students’ Union, and therefore impact life on campus more generally.
Previous editions of The Badger 1965-now
Furthermore, at a university brimming with diverse backgrounds and stories, The Badger offers the chance for a wide array of viewpoints and perspectives to be illuminated, providing a brilliant opportunity for representation and inclusion of everyone at Sussex. The Badger and the media societies at Sussex have contributors from a number of countries across the world, offering an outlet for perspectives which would not ordinarily be heard in the UK’s media landscape, helping our reporting mirror the university community that we are all a part of.
Moreover, the existence of a student-run newspaper on campus ensures that campus and student life act as a training ground for democracy and broader civic engagement. On a global scale, freedom of speech is increasingly constrained. We often witness one thing and are told another by those in power, such as the devastating mass starvation of civilians in Gaza, an issue many students care deeply about. In this context, the importance and necessity of considerate and ethical media reporting, even on a small scale, could not be clearer. Thus highlighting why student journalists, like us on campus, must uphold high reporting standards. We must retain the right to use our voices to question those things we know to be wrong, both on a large scale abroad and on a small scale on campus.
However it is not always easy to be a part of the Badger, behind the scenes there are numerous and often difficult administrative obstacles that we face meaning the support which we receive from the student body is absolutely essential for the newspaper to carry on what we do and tell important stories that, in many cases, the university may not always want you to hear.
If you are interested in joining The Badger Newspaper, please find our Instagram (@thebadgersussex) for details, where you can join our WhatsApp chat linked in the bio. You can also find all of our articles and archived editions on our website – thebadgeronline.com. Independent student journalism is not just a reflection of life and events on campus, but a safeguard for its integrity, and it will remain so as long as we have the courage to keep telling the stories that matter. By students, for students.