Kent and the Media

This project will focus on local and national media coverage of events and issues involving the University of Kent. This will range from the local media response to the establishment of the University to the national coverage of the Queen’s visit. The researchers on this project will use the library’s substantial archive of newspaper cuttings as well as television and radio sources to illustrate the local and national response to these key events in the University’s history and to plot any changes in the wider perception of the University.

Here’s what the student researchers on this project had to say:

This project is centred on the outside media coverage of events and topics involving the University of Kent across the last five decades. Our study will range from examining local reporting, to the wealth of attention on a more national level which has played a role in recording the history of the University. It will explore the responses to a range of events, extending from the representation of the University’s opening, to the national coverage of the Queen’s visit. As researchers on this project, we are using the newspaper archives from a range of areas, as well as television documentaries and radio sources, to illustrate the local and national response to these key events surrounding university life. A key aim of this project is also to plot the changes in the wider perception of the University, and view the way it has been portrayed by outside observers across the course of its existence.

Being involved in the celebration of the 50th Anniversary is something which really excites us as students, as we have the opportunity to be truly involved in the place which is having such an impact on our lives. We have been drawn to this particular project because of our fascination with the way the outside world has previously viewed our University and the events which have occurred within it, compared with more recently. Coverage of large events have shaped the University’s history and ushered in a wave of new representations and perceptions of its students, lecturers and staff, consequently shaping our own identities in the present, and influencing the reasons we chose to come here. We also want to discover a deeper understanding of the key events which have impacted on previous students’ lives and how they were intrinsically linked with the resulting news stories. This study will also be part of the history of the University itself, and will allow us and everyone who contributes to leave our own legacy in an archive for the future.

We are keen to hear from current and former journalists and reporters who may have covered stories about the University and events involving its students. Any information from current or previous students or staff concerning recollections of coverage of the University are also very welcome. If any newspaper cuttings or radio recordings are available we would be incredibly thankful for them.

Interested in contributing to this project? Learn how to get involved! Get in contact with us.