Cheese Grater Magazine: Investigations Editor

I joined The Cheese Grater back in October after reading an article about the lack of clear leadership at UCL Labour. Disgruntled at the lack of political discourse at UCL, the article convinced me to join the magazine and channel my political interest into journalism. 

Since joining, I can easily say that I have enjoyed every meeting. The sense of community, the gossip and getting shitfaced on a Monday in the ioe have all contributed to a feeling that I want to make a greater commitment to the magazine. 

I have been fortunate to write a handful of pieces for the magazine since joining, taking an interest in union politics. This interest has encouraged me to take a lead on the coverage of the upcoming leadership race, using the platform to inform and engage students across campus in student democracy. 

As Investigations Editor, I would want to bolster the Cheese Grater’s role as the main source of political discourse, uncovering controversies and holding those who represent us to account whether that be the Student Union, or the University itself. 

Within my short time at the society, I feel my ability to write has improved thanks to the support of our existing editorial team. I would only want to carry this on through leading the meetings, outreaching to build a larger group of contributors and supporting our journalists to flourish and produce the most hard hitting news that we can!

I'm running to be the next Investigations Editor because I believe investigative journalism is the soul of the Cheese Grater.

In my time at the Cheese Grater I have written multiple investigation pieces; holding the University and the Students' Union to account is something I am very passionate about and I think this is reflected in my articles. I believe that media scrutiny plays a fundamental, irreplaceable role in protecting and strengthening democracy, and the Cheese Grater is one of the few if not the only, media outlet that properly keeps UCL and the SU in check.

If I were to become Investigations Editor, I would like to carry on the fantastic work of my predecessors Malvika and Andrea in keeping to high standards of quality and journalistic integrity. I would work to expand our connections with those within the Union (an extremely valuable source of information) while absolutely maintaining our editorial independence to continue standing up for the students, something which I believe the Union has often times failed to do. Meanwhile, I would also love to publish our investigations pieces in more types of media such as short form video content, in order to expand our audience.

Joining the Cheese Grater has in many ways been the best choices I have made since joining UCL, and it would be my pleasure to be able to host investigations meetings, meet new people, and introduce them to the amazing world of investigative journalism as the Cheese Grater did to me.