Australian universities have a strong history of student engagement, storytelling and growth through student magazines, beginning with the Melbourne University newspaper Farrago in 1925.
Budding content writers have long cut their teeth via student-voice outlets, from black-and-white tabloids in the early 20th century to full-colour glossy magazines and dynamic digital offerings today. Student-run websites enable valuable digital newsroom experience and opportunities to explore and publish new media forms.
Monash University continues this tradition with mojonews.com.au, an independent media organisation run by journalism and media communication students and hosted on the Pagemasters Publish platform. In 2014, Monash entrusted the full production and editing of Mojo News to its students (supervised by experienced journalists) – a move that led to the website being named Best Student Publication in Australia at the 2017 Ossie Awards.
Major news outlets – including The Sunday Age, Crikey and New Matilda – have published Mojo content. As Monash explains, the quality of what they produce confirms “journalism students do real journalism throughout their degree”.
The Publish platform powers more than 60 news and content websites globally, enabling teams to create, edit, schedule and share their content on one site or easily distribute across several.
Just like in a large newsroom, digital staff can be assigned roles, permissions and workflow access.
Using Publish allows students to gain first-hand experience on the same easy-to-use platform that is powering Monash University’s compelling commentary website Monash Lens, New Zealand-based news and current affairs site Newsroom.co.nz, North East Media’s network of 10 local news sites, Queensland’s Blank Street Press, and many others.
The work and impact of Monash University’s research and academic community is the focus of Monash Lens, the success of which is ensured by a rich range of content, including What Happens Next?, a podcast hosted by academic and commentator Dr Susan Carland and nominated for Best Current Affairs Podcast in the 2020 Australian Podcast Awards; the documentary series A Different Lens, which investigates the “magnitude and complexity of the themes and challenges that will shape our future”; and regular analysis of the latest in politics, medicine, the economy, design and engineering.
To find out more about how Publish can benefit students, click here.
