Gaudie

The Gaudie
Type Fortnightly during Aberdeen University term time
Format Tabloid
Editor Gemma Shields and Richard Wood
Founded 1934
Political alignment None
Language English
Headquarters Butchart Building, University Road, Aberdeen
Circulation c. 3,000 (potential 15,000 readership students[1])
Website www.thegaudie.co.uk

The Gaudie is an independent student run newspaper at the University of Aberdeen covering campus and local news. It has been in circulation since 1934 and is currently free-of-charge. It aims to print unbiased, student-focussed articles.

The Gaudie is partially funded by Aberdeen University Students' Association, and partially by its own advertising revenue. It currently consists of twenty four pages split into the sections News, Features, Opine, Puzzles, Life and Style, Arts, Listings and Sports.

In 2014, The Gaudie saw a raft of changes. The website was given a full redesign and released alongside an app. The paper itself has also had a major redesign for the Graduation edition. Since then, each edition has had some notable minor changes. It is also now a member of the SPA.

History

The Gaudie was first released in 1934 as a weekly student paper.[2] It is recognised as one of the oldest student newspapers in Scotland and the United Kingdom, and in 2003 was stated as the oldest by the Guardian. It has been produced by Aberdeen's student association by students since its inception in 1934. It appeared in the press in 2003 when the then editorial team resigned in protest over the Aberdeen University Students' Association attempts to enforce content and restrict the budget and print run. Since 2009, the paper has successfully re-established itself around the King's College Campus, and Foresterhill. The paper has a number of notable past writes and editors including Alistair Darling and David Torrance.

2003 Resignation Controversy

In 2003, there was outrage over the attempts by the Aberdeen University Students' Association to enforce content on the editorial team. AUSA believed that as the Students' Association paid for the paper, they were entitled to advertise the Association and its endeavours. Led by Mark Lindley-Highfield, the entire editorial team of the paper resigned. The issue was taken to Parliament by the MP for Shetland and Orkney, criticizing the Students' Association's "ill-advised move". During Lindley-Highfield's tenure, the paper doubled its number of pages and increased the proportion of the paper produced in colour while still performing better than budget on the back of increased circulation and greater advertising revenue, which he put down to the excellent team.[3]

2014/ 2015 Redesign and Content Improvements

The major redesign from 2012 to 2015 took inspiration from a number of national newspapers in including the Herald, the Scotsman, the Times, the Guardian and the Independent. It saw the masthead and section headers significantly reduced in size, the introduction of Helvetica Neue as a sans-serifed font and a change in floating quotes.[4] The Arts section had a complete design overhaul with the introduction of a sleeker magazine style format. The aim of this is to work towards the creation of a pull-out section in the new year.

Alongside the redesign, the 2014/ 2015 editorial team aimed to produce a range of high quality content. This started with exclusive interviews with Alistair Darling[5] and Michael Russell[6] just before the Scottish Independence Referendum. Through the first half of the year they also spoke with former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan,[7] internationally renowned author Will Self [8] and British rap band Hacktivist,[9] amongst others. Alongside a raft of exclusive student content, they also retained some of the constant features in The Gaudie including 'Style on Campus', 'My Top 5', 'Arts News' and 'Comments on Campus'.

References

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