Crossfire (magazine)
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (August 2007) |
| Crossfire | |
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| Type | Student newspaper |
| Format | Magazine |
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| Owner | Deakin University Student Association |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Language | English |
| Price | Free |
| Headquarters |  |
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| Website: Xfire | |
Crossfire is a student newspaper published at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia since 2001. The magazine is produced by the Deakin University Student Association.
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[edit] History
[edit] Student media at Deakin
Given that Deakin University is spread across a number of campuses, a number of smaller, campus-specific periodicals have sprung up over the years. Between the years of 2001-02, each campus had their own newsletter which was produced at monthly intervals, complemented Crossfire's wider coverage. These newsletter were designed to cover local events and services run by both the university, and by the student associations respective campuses. These included the 'Waterfront Wave' and 'Pond Life' (2001-2).
In 2002-03, The editorial leadership at the time made Crossfire a fourtnightly publication, and the on-campus editors had 4 pages of campus specific pages, hence there was a Crossfire published for each campus, per issue. This in effect replaced the campus newsletters. Crossfire became a newspaper style magazine, with duo-tone and rough paper stock used to great effect.
In 2004, Anna Jacobs was elected to office as the Editor in Chief, and under her leadership she not only increased the distribution numbers of Crossfire, and grounding the editorial content towards popular culture interests, she re-instigated the campus newsletters. This not only gave each campus their own publication for both news, events information, and outlets for writing of the 'rant' kind, but the move reinforced the strength of Crossfire as a stand-alone magazine with a broad approach. She also implemented higher-quality print stock, which in turn assisted the high visual output that was traditionally assisted with the magazine. The rebirth of the campus newsletters led to "The Grater" (Burwood - Chloe Walker), "Pond Life" (Waurn Ponds Geelong - Katherine Gladman), "Bool'Sheet" (Warnambool - Unknown), "The Front (Waterfront Geelong - Ryan ???). A distinctly more colourful and artistical-driven publications were produced.
[edit] 'Revolution' at Waterfront
During the Anna Jacob's lead year of Crossfire (2004), the Waterfront Campus became incredibly descent-filled towards their then editor, Ryan ???, as the newsletter 'The Front' was being published at incredibly erratic intervals, where in some cases months would pass before an issue was released. Towards August-September 2004 (exact date cannot be confirmed) Redmond Hamlett and Matthew Trigg started a bi-partisan 'zine' entitled, 'Neo-Front'. The Student Association at the time was incredibly warry of the this publication, namely because of the name as they feared it could potentially isolate their internation students, however, the editors Hamlett and Trigg verbally defended their choice of name as they were supposedly subscribing to Post-Modernism. Having said this, 'The Front' soon found its demise, and 'Neo-Front' has since been the 'zine (no longer referred to as a 'newsletter', after finding its creative and editorial niche) at Waterfront Geelong Campus.
Whether or not the publication, or their founding and subsequent editors were trully basing their editorial decisions on ideas such as 'Revolution', or 'Post-Modernism' is up for discussion, however the magazine adopted images from social conflicts were Socialist ideals were the moral basis for such things, hence images of revolutionary figures, freedom fighters, urban decay and the like were used for the graphical themes (and subsequent promotional material), the content of the articles was generally speaking, quite 'safe' and 'unoffensive'. Strangely enough, Neo-Front today is the only campus newsletter (or zine) that has continued to be published, albeit at distant intervals, due namely to the funding crisis of VSU.
[edit] Voluntary Student Unionism
The implementation of voluntary student unionism in 2006 had a significant impact on the viability of student newspapers across Australia, compulsory student union membership fees having been the major source of income for most. Crossfire Magazine, and Student Media at Deakin has suffered tremendously because of this. It could also be attributed to the distances between each Deakin Campus that has crippled the organisational power of Crossfire, and its newsletters, as compared to other student union produced magazines, where only one campus is being catered for.
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Bootleg | Catalyst | Crossfire | CUrio | Delirra | Empire Times | Entropy | Farrago | Getamungstit | Grok Magazine | The Hack | Harambee | Honi Soit | ISM | Interpellator | Lot's Wife | Metior | Muscateer | National U | Neucleus | On Dit | Opus | Pelican | Prodigy | Properganda | Quasimodo | Rabelais Student Media | The Rattler | Seed | Semper Floreat | The Student Leader | Tabula Rasa | Tertangala | Tharunka | Togatus | Universe | Vertigo | The Western Onion | Woroni |
| Student broadcasters in Australia |
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2MCE Bathurst | 2NUR Newcastle | 2SER Sydney | RMITV | 3SYN Melbourne | Cue FM Canberra | TUNE! FM Armidale | 101.5 Radio Adelaide |
