Cherwell (newspaper)

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Cherwell
Cherwell reports the September 11, 2001 attacks
Cherwell reports the September 11, 2001 attacks
Type Weekly newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner OSPL
Founded 1920
Political allegiance none
Headquarters 7 St Aldate's, Oxford
Circulation c. 14,000
Website: www.cherwell.org

Cherwell newspaper is a student newspaper published by and for students of Oxford University. First published in 1920, it has had an electronic version, now called Cherwell24, since 1996. Named after the local river, Cherwell is published by OSPL (Oxford Student Publications Ltd.), who also publish the sister publication ISIS. One of the oldest student publications in the UK, it is editorially independent and has been the launching pad for many well known journalistic careers. The newspaper receives no university funding and is independent of the student union. The current editors are Willa Brown and James Rogers.

Contents

[edit] History

Cherwell was conceived by two Balliol College students, Cecil Binney and George Edinger, on a ferry from Dover to Ostend during the summer vacation of 1920 while the students were travelling to Vienna to do relief work for the Save the Children charity. Erdinger recalls the early newspaper having a radical voice: "We were feeling for a new Oxford… We were anti-convention, anti-Pre War values, Pro-Feminist. We did not mind shocking and we often did."

Nonetheless, early editions combine this seriousness with whimsy and parochialism. The first editorial gives the newspaper's purpose as being "to exclude all outside influence and interference from our University. Oxford for the Oxonians".

Cherwell was the only newspaper printed in Britain during the UK General Strike of 1926, during which time it was produced at the offices of the Daily Mail in London.

Throughout the 1920s Cherwell had a strong literary focus, and a policy of not editing literary contributions. Undergraduate contributors included Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, L. P. Hartley, Cecil Day-Lewis and W. H. Auden.

The newspaper's literary focus broadened over the coming decades until by 1950 it had become a general-interest newspaper. In 1946 Cherwell was briefly banned by the university for distributing a survey on the sex lives of undergraduates, and in 1954 ran a series of pin-up photographs entitled "Girls of the Year". In 1970 then-editor Peter Stothard published what was possibly the first topless female photograph in a British newspaper, and was disciplined by the university's proctors.

In 1964 the newspaper's longest-running feature was born, the John Evelyn gossip column (which has run almost uninterrupted ever since). Over the decades many famous people have been the subject of John Evelyn's wry and faux-condescending style, among them future Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto, politician Jonathan Aitken, and actor Imogen Stubbs. In 1981, Hugh Grant is described as "New College's answer to Brooke Shields", and his unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate a ball with his date are reported.

In the mid-1970s Cherwell survived one of its periodic financial crises, and politically the paper campaigned against Oxford University's investments in apartheid-era South Africa.

[edit] Organisation

Cherwell staff are Oxford students who run the paper while studying for their degrees. Editors and deputy editors are elected termly by the Council of Management, also largely made up of former editors and business staff. The editors determine the rest of their team, usually consisting of a news editor, features editor, arts editor and sports editor, and their respective deputies. All positions may be held jointly, more commonly in the junior positions. Section editors hold their own section meetings, at which any student may participate. Guest contributors are commonly employed, often Oxford-educated national figures.

[edit] Scoops

The engagement of Charles, Prince of Wales to Diana Spencer was announced in a Cherwell world exclusive, after the news leaked to the paper through a connection working in the British royal household. News that Chelsea Clinton planned to study for a masters degree at Oxford was also first published in Cherwell.

[edit] Politics

Cherwell has no party political line or stated political sympathy. A broad range of views are expressed, and the centre of gravity tends to change frequently, owing to the rapid turnover of staff. In student-related politics, Cherwell has tended to be less Labour-supporting and less sympathetic to the Oxford University Students' Union than the union-run rival the Oxford Student, whose political hue in any case also changes.

[edit] Cherwell and the English language

The Oxford English Dictionary lists the terms 'sherry party' and 'Marxism' (as pertaining to the Marx Brothers) as having been coined in Cherwell. Additions from recent decades are lacking probably because Cherwell is only sporadically lodged at copyright libraries, and because it is not included in electronic text search systems such as Lexis-Nexis.

[edit] Well-known Cherwell contributors

An editorial alludes to the many former contributors who go on to work in Fleet Street
An editorial alludes to the many former contributors who go on to work in Fleet Street

[edit] Recent Cherwell editors

Hilary Term 2007: Ian Duncan and Catherine Rutter
Michaelmas Term 2006: Paul Hinds and Alex Stewart
Trinity Term 2006: Emily Gosden and Kate Tolley
Hilary Term 2006: Andrew Dagnell and Jonathan Theodore
Michaelmas Term 2005: Luke Alexander and George Davies
Trinity Term 2005: Venetia Ansell and Daniel Bennett
Hilary Term 2005: Ben Coffer and Jack Fanning
Michaelmas Term 2004: Robert Crowe
Trinity Term 2004: Elaina Evans and Aled George
Hilary Term 2004: Rowena Mason
Michaelmas Term 2003: Hannah Charlick
Trinity Term 2003: Waleed Ghani
Hilary Term 2003: Josh Goodman
Michaelmas Term 2002: Nicholas Randall and James Kettle
Trinity Term 2002: Niall Stewart (resigned) and Andrew Sutton
Hilary Term 2002: Marcus Edwards and Meera Sabaratnam
Michaelmas Term 2001: Jon Boone
Trinity Term 2001: Andrew Morris and William Shuckbrugh
Hilary Term 2001: Charlie Talbot
Michaelmas 2000: David McNeill and Jenny Finch
Trinity Term 2000: Andrew Alexander
Hilary Term 2000: Richard Colebourn and Michelle Teo
Michaelmas Term 1999: Matt Brindley and Chris Tryhorn
Trinity Term 1999: Tim Robey
Hilary Term 1999: Rachel Williams
Michaelmas Term 1998: Hadley Freeman
Trinity Term 1998: Louise Knowles and Alex von Tunzelmann
Hilary Term 1998: Ross Hawkins
Michaelmas Term 1997: Rishi Dastidar
Trinity Term 1997: Lindsey Harrad
Hilary Term 1997: Becky Lloyd
Michaelmas Term 1996: Chris Philp and Justin Huggler
Trinity Term 1996: Jat Gill and David Black
Hilary Term 1996: Lucie Whitehouse and Jeffrey Gettleman
Michaelmas Term 1995: Emma Brockes, Nick Mountfield and Conal Walsh
Trinity Term 1995: Dermot Canterbury and Paul J Taylor
Hilary Term 1995: Lucy Manning, Dov Waxman and James Tozer
Michaelmas Term 1994: Nadia Hall, Ilsa Godlovitch and James Erskine
Trinity Term 1994: Michael Peel and Ben Cohen
Hilary Term 1994: Nick Gibbons, Tom Penn, Chris Taylor
Michaelmas Term 1993: Oliver August, Niels Bryan Low, James Carter

[edit] Sources

  • Cherwell 75 Years, anniversary edition of Cherwell, November 1995

[edit] Cherwell 24

Cherwell has had a website since Trinity 1996, when Cherwell Online was launched by Thor Mitchell under Cherwell editors Jat Gill and David Black. Now called Cherwell 24, the site is updated every day during term. The site contains all of the articles from the print edition, as well as extra news, features, arts reviews and sport reports. Recent additions to the site include an online-only science section, video footage and news and sport podcasts that can be downloaded for free. Students also use the website to vote on the paper's regular feature, Fit College, vote on polls and post comments on articles. The current editor is Emma Bullimore (Merton).

[edit] Recent Cherwell 24 editors

Hilary 2007: Larry Smith
Michaelmas 2006: Ali Gibson
Trinity 2006: Elle Perry
Hilary 2006: Alex Laffan
Creator: Luke Alexander

[edit] External links

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