“It’s kind of a slap in the face”: CANTA Questions UC’s Approach to Student Media.

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons (Stephen Trinder)

CANTA staff have raised questions about the University of Canterbury’s (UC) approach to providing comment to student media following “generic” responses.

CANTA is editorially independent from UC and the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA), with its editorial policy stating the magazine can investigate and critique the university and hold it to account when appropriate.

CANTA feature writer, Aaliyah Raja, said she is often left “frustrated” and “confused” by UC Media’s responses to her media enquiries.

“They respond in like a very generic way [or] they like dodge around the actual questions and use a lot of jargon to kind of confuse you and not actually tell you what you’re wanting to find out”, she said.

Raja had to “re-email” UC Media for a recent story because they “answered nothing that I wanted to know”.

The story looked at UC’s marketing strategies and whether their representation of student diversity was authentic and genuine.

“They’ll just quote their strategic visions, and, like, I have no idea what that is,” Raja said.

“I find it really frustrating because they’re supposed to be there to help the media… [but] they’re just like this wall that’s stopping us from actually being able to communicate in an open and transparent way with the university”.

CANTA managing editor Ella Sage said working alongside UC Media feels “one-sided at times”.

“We only get to see what they want us to see. We get all their press releases and all their news stories, but we don’t get answers to what we want when we are trying to fulfil that purpose of holding them to account”, she said.

Sage said that another challenge faced by CANTA staff is their ability to communicate with specific faculty members. “You get one spokesperson or just like an anonymous kind of generalised response,” which she described as “frustrating”.

She said it would mean a lot to CANTA as student media to get the kind of engagement they want, and to receive comment from people who “we’re asking specifically to engage with”.

“A lot of student magazines have fought really hard with their editorial independence, and I think it’s kind of a slap in the face if that is upheld on paper, but not in practice”, she said.

In 2020, CANTA gained editorial independence following a lengthy battle with the UCSA over pre-publication vetting, after more than 700 people signed a petition to have the association cease the process.

A recent story by Massey University’s student magazine Massive Magazine revealed a number of student magazines around Aotearoa, including Massive and Debate, Auckland University of Technology’s student magazine, also experience challenges communicating with their respective university communications teams.

UC journalism lecturer Conan Young said organisations are not obliged to answer every question asked by the media.

“They don’t have to answer them specifically, they can obfuscate or just ignore very specific questions”, he said.

However, Young said journalists could still ensure institutions are held to account by making it clear what questions were asked and giving them an appropriate amount of time to respond.

“As long as you’ve given them enough time, then you’ve sort of upheld your end of the bargain in terms of fairness and balance”, he said.

Young said CANTA should have the “opportunity to hold the university to account over certain issues”.

“At its best, CANTA or any student magazine should be a voice for students… if the university is listening to students and has provided a forum for them to speak out, then it’s an opportunity for the university to hear from the people they’re there to serve and to make things better”, he said.

UC Marketing, Communications and Events Director, Jayne Austin, said UC engage with student media with “the same professional standards and principles as when working with other media organisations”.

She said UC works to identify the information needed and the appropriate person to provide it before a response is coordinated within the deadline advised.

Austin said attributing a response to a UC spokesperson is “common media practice,” particularly when a response reflects the view of more than one person, or the university’s position as a whole.

“A response may also draw on information from several areas, meaning there is no single person to whom it can fairly be attributed”, she said.

Austin said there may also be “privacy, legal or other considerations” that affect what information can be shared.

Where UC cannot provide all the information requested, she said they “aim to explain why” and “advise whether another avenue is available”.

Austin said UC can connect journalists with academics where appropriate, and that journalists can also contact academics directly through UC’s Research Portal.

She said UC “recognises the important role” of CANTA in keeping students informed, and that the university “respect CANTA’s editorial independence and welcome the opportunity for open and ongoing engagement with its team”.