University story
American exchange students left stranded at University of Winchester.
Students were separated and left in accommodation with no food, no bedding and the wrong courses.
A student, Kirsty Tulloch,19, said, “I live with an exchange student and am shocked that she was not told anything, I had to show her how to get to the supermarket which is difficult to get to.”
The exchange students claimed that when they got to the university they were not informed as to what was happening and had not been told what to bring with them.
Before the students came to England they were told that they would have fully equipped and catered accommodation. Instead they were put in halls of residence away from the canteens.
Some students were left disappointed when their courses did not meet their expectations,
Elizabeth Boon, 21, an exchange student from Ohio commented, “I had to be put into a different class, as the one I was in was too advanced.”
A concern is that the disruption may affect their learning and could result in other exchange students opting out of the program.
Ok this is a genuine story. But there’s a problem – it lacks balance. These are fairly serious allegations, and the university has to be given a chance to deny the allegations (balance). Even just a line from the unviersity press office saying: “we are looking into it” or soemthing would have made it useable.
Also, as I understand it, one of the persons you have interviewed is your flatmate. That introduces the problem of malice. Not a great idea to go round getting news stories from your friends. Need to go to proper sources. Eg if these people had reported these problems to an authority of some sort (eg, the police, or some other official body) then you can report on that. Not jus tthe fact they were moaning on about it (however justifiably) over the cornflakes.
The technical standard of the writing is weak – punctuation wrong, etc (see HICKS – and other blogs).
But what is very good about this is the desire to digs things up and do a bit of muck raking and generally cause trouble. That is excellent mind set. Just that the target is wrong because you have a vested interest (malice). The first thing the university would do if this appeared in print is point out that you are linked to the source and you would not have a leg to stand on.
I think I emailed you about that before you did the story, so I am surprised that you went ahead. So this is a bit of mixed bag in those terms. Why not make like simple for yourself and just do a bit of straightforward local government or court reporting. There’s plenty to go at, as the lecture series and reading people and poltiics should demonstrate.
Yrs Chris Horrie
Posted 3 years, 12 months ago