Tharunka
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Tharunka is a student newspaper established in 1953 at the University of New South Wales. The name Tharunka means "message stick" in the language of the Eora people, on whose ancestral lands the university is built.
Tharunka is currently published every three weeks during university session by office-bearers, volunteers and staff at the UNSW Student Guild. In 2004 and 2005, the Tharunka was published as a tabloid newspaper of between 16 and 32 pages. As of 2006, Tharunka is published in an A4 colour non-gloss magazine style.
Tharunka's budget is in the order of $80,000 to $100,000, including staff wages.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Content
The content of Tharunka varies year to year in line with the priorities of the Guild, the editors and the contributor base. However, certain features remain constant year to year:
- Student Guild office-bearers are required to regularly report to their consituents through the newspaper
- Letters to the editor are published when they are received - although the volume of mail is rarely significant
- Satire and parody centring on recent news events has been a key element of the newspaper since 2002
- Opinion pieces and editorials
- Reviews of books, music and films
Interestingly, campus news is not necessarily a key component of the newspaper's content. Nor, for that matter, are classifieds or listings of upcoming events on campus. The newspaper is also notable for a low volume of paid advertising.
Tharunka front pages won awards at the National Student Media Conference in 2004 and 2006.
[edit] Special editions
Under Guild regulations, Tharunka is to be published fortnightly during university session. Throughout the year, a number of 'special' editions are produced. The first edition is timed for release during Orientation Week and will typically feature welcome messages, information about the university and its campus, and advice to new students.
The first edition of second session is the Foundation Day edition, timed to coincide with the university's birthday celebrations in early August. This edition is typically designed to look like a parody of some other publication: past targets have included Men's Health, New Scientist, Rolling Stone and even K-Mart catalogues.
The last edition before the annual Guild elections, held in September, contains candidate statements for the forthcoming poll. Editors are banned from publishing election commentary in this edition, a rule that is policed by the returning officer, who acts as publisher for the edition.
In most years, one edition each will be given over to the Guild's Women's Department and the Gay and Lesbian Services Department to publish articles on feminism, gay rights and autonomous organising. Often, the Departments' collective and committee structures will be granted a high degree of autonomy over their edition.
[edit] Organisation
Tharunka is the journal of the UNSW Student Guild and so final decisionmaking authority at the newspaper is vested in the Guild's governing council. The bulk of the council's members are elected to one-year terms under a system of proportional representation.
Guild council was particularly active in its direction of the newspaper in 2000, when a planned "White Heterosexual Male Issue" was banned, and in 2004, when the editors were criticised for their coverage of Student Guild politics and Voluntary Student Unionism.
All content published in Tharunka must be approved by the Guild's Secretary/Treasurer, an elected office-bearer. The Secretary/Treasurer takes legal responsibility for the newspaper's content, although they would be indemnified by the Student Guild in the event that they were sued over the newspaper's content.
Day-to-day control of the newspaper's direction, however, falls to the Guild's Media Directors. One or two people can be elected to this position, which is typically filled by the media director candidate or candidates from the most popular faction.
Media directors are typically credited as 'editors' within the newspaper itself. Although media directors are nominally responsible for all Guild publications, it is the production of Tharunka that takes up most of their time in office. One media director sits on Guild council and reports back to it each month.
Ultimately, however, Tharunka is a volunteer organisation and so individual contributors have a wide degree of autonomy in deciding what issues the newspaper covers.
[edit] History
[edit] Editors: Student Union 1953-1992
| Year | Volume | Editions | Format | Parody cover | Editors | |
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| 1953 | ||||||
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| 1974 | ||||||
| 1975 | 21 | 28 | Tabloid newspaper | Vicki Wootten and Brian Robins | ||
| 1976 | 22 | 28 | Tabloid newspaper | Women's Weekly (Women's Weekly) | Steven Raper, Bradley Wynne, Olga Prokopvich and Geoff Turnbull | |
| 1977 | 23 | Tabloid newspaper | ||||
| 1978 | 24 | 28 | Tabloid newspaper | Benthouse (Penthouse) | Juliette Sterne, Colin Isreal and Gary Ross | |
| 1979 | 25 | 28 | Tabloid newspaper | Kids' Stuff | Bruce Bradbury, Nicolette Dillon, Maryella Hatfield, Jeff Holten, Graeme Tubbenhauer | |
| 1980 | 26 | 27 | Tabloid newspaper | Teresa Music, Bob Sheil, Bill McMahon and Stewart Lehr | ||
| 1981 | 27 | 14 | Large magazine | Eric Campbell, David Gibson, Ruth Hessey and Frances McDonald | ||
| 1982 | 28 | Various | The National Slimes (The National Times) | John Amy and Hector Hill | ||
| 1983 | 29 | 15 | Large magazine | Bradley Norington and Alex Cramb | ||
| 1984 | 30 | 13 | Large magazine | Wendy Carlisle, Alastair Walton, Susan Smith, Mark Cahill | ||
| 1985 | 31 | 15 | Large magazine | Helen Doyle, Tim Menzies, Isabelle Albert, Jan Bellis, David Cox, John Olip, Gordon Farrer | ||
| 1986 | 32 | 14 | Large magazine | Jan Bellis, Robert Cook, David Cox, Gordon Farrer, Jim Gleeson, Kay Heycox, Vicki Lee, Tim Menzies, John Olip, Michael Preist | ||
| 1987 | ||||||
| 1988 | ||||||
| 1989 | ||||||
| 1990 | 36 | 14 | Large magazine | Golly (Dolly) | ||
| 1991 | 37 | 14 | Large magazine | The Spew Age | Angus Crosby, Catriona Mackenzie, Elisia Yeo, Mary O'Connell, Nicos Souleles, Patrizia Montanari, Yvonne y Hoare | |
| 1992 | 38 | 14 | Large magazine | Who Cares? (Who magazine) | Elias Hallaj |
[edit] Editors: Student Guild 1993-2006
| Year | Volume | Editions | Format | Parody cover | Editors | Guild Faction in power during editorship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 39 | Stuart Guinness, Alf Conlon[2] and Yaron Finkelstein | NOLS | |||
| 1994 | 40 | 14 | Large magazine | The Fake | Amanda Pullinger and Andy Cook | NOLS |
| 1995 | 41 | 13 | Large magazine | The Typograph Error (The Telegraph Mirror)[3] | Pauly Wall and David Caspari | NOLS |
| 1996 | 42 | 14 | Large magazine | Piss Weakend (Good Weekend) | Dale Harrison and Katie Kemm | NOLS |
| 1997 | 43 | 14 | Large magazine | Crawling Home (Rolling Stone) | Raj Khuman and Andrew Martin | NLC |
| 1998 | 44 | Large magazine | Philip Choi and Edward Carroll | NLC | ||
| 1999 | 45 | Large magazine | Christian Haraminow | NLC | ||
| 2000 | 46 | 14 | Large magazine | Weekly UNSW News (Weekly World News) | Michael Shane Korogiannis and Marta Jary | NLC |
| 2001 | 47 | 10 | Square magazine | The Gorgeous Edition (Hello! Magazine) | Michelle Carmody and Nick Salzberg | NBL |
| 2002 | 48 | Large magazine | Ben's Health (Men's Health) | Anthony Levin and Alex Tyrell | Student Unity | |
| 2003 | 49 | 13 | Large magazine | Nude Scientist (New Scientist) | Calen Thurston | Student Unity |
| 2004 | 50 | 17 | Tabloid newspaper | Foundation Day-Mart (Kmart) | Joe Stella and Kathryn Small | Student Unity |
| 2005 | 51 | Tabloid newspaper | Bowling Stoned (Rolling Stone) | Janet Duncan[4] | NOLS | |
| 2006 | 52 | Small magazine | Homeboy (Playboy) | Mansha Tandon and Patrick Coyte | NLS |
The political affiliation of individual officers is a contentious issue: although a slate of candidates (known as a "ticket") may be considered generally aligned to a national faction, such as Student Unity, this is an imperfect guide to the sympathies of individuals elected under that banner.
Other notable UNSW students who edited Tharunka include author and commentator Richard Neville and lawyer, activist and investigative journalist Wendy Bacon.
[edit] Controversy
Each year, Tharunka, the Guild's newspaper, produces a Women's Edition, which contains articles on feminism, women's health and other subjects. Plans by the editors of Tharunka to produce a Men's Edition in 2000, to deal with (primarily health-related) issues of interest to men, were met with concerted opposition by the Guild's women's department. Accusing Tharunka of planning a "White Heterosexual Male Edition" of the newspaper, then Women's Officer Anna Bilston convinced the Guild Council to ban any men's edition and to give her the right to scruitinise further editions of Tharunka before publication.[5]
2001's Guild administration covered the Tharunka office in Marxist graffiti.[6]
In 2002, an edition of Tharunka was designed and produced to look like the University of New South Wales Union's magazine Blitz. This edition was explained by asking "whether we would receive more for our student fees if [the Guild and the Union] were amalgamated."[7]
In November 2004, the Guild was attacked by Daily Telegraph columnist Michael Duffy for attempting to prevent the expression of support for voluntary student unionism at UNSW. "Student politics is still notoriously corrupt and secretive," Duffy wrote, reporting that "the editors of the student union magazine Tharunka, have been told by the Guild Council ... not to publish articles in support of voluntary unionism."[8]
[edit] Future
The 2006 Guild elections saw Sophie Braham and Jonno Seidler elected as Media Directors for 2007.[9] However, in 2007, the UNSW Student Guild will cease to exist, being replaced by a new student organisation, known for the time being as ACN 121 239 674 Limited.
Documents concerning the way in which student organisations at UNSW will adapt to the smaller budgets anticipated under voluntary student unionism suggest that Tharunka, which is run at a substantial loss, does not have a future after 2006. The final report of the campus VSU working group merely calls for "a regular email newsletter and less frequent limited run “special interest” printed paper, also available online." The report does mention that the issue of student media, including its role and placement within the structure requires significant further discussion.[10]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ O'Halloran, Brett (June 2005) "The Implications of Voluntary Student Unionism Legislation for UNSW An Issues Paper with Recommendations". Accessed Nov. 13 2006 [1]
- ^ Conlon went on to become the founding editor of Blitz magazine
- ^ The Telegraph Mirror changed its name the following year.
- ^ Christine Tran elected media director, but did not serve in the role. Tran resigned after the deadline for a fresh election, Janet Duncan was appointed to complete Tran's term by Guild council.
- ^ Korogiannis, Michael (Nov. 2000). "Are some more equal than others?". Tharunka.
- ^ Stella, Joe (Feb. 23, 2004). "A three-way contest with no middle ground". Tharunka.
- ^ Levin, Anthony and Alex Tyrrell (Nov. 2002). "Tharunka does Blitz". Tharunka.
- ^ Duffy, Michael (Nov. 13, 2004). "Forced to subsidise bad food and bullies". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Tandon, Mansha and Patrick Coyte (October 2006) Editorial. Tharunka, p. 1
- ^ Hunter, Kirsten et al (May 2006) "Final Report of the VSU Mediation Group of UNSW Student Organisations". Accessed 14 Nov. 2006 [2]
[edit] See also
- Blitz, another student publication on campus produced by the Source
- Message stick
- Zing Tycoon, a zine-style student publication on the College of Fine Arts campus, formerly known as Xerox Positive.
- Interview with Wendy Bacon, Tharunka, vol. 46 (2000)
- University of New South Wales Student Guild
