Palatinate

The first issue of the student newspaper was published on 17 March 1948. Although the paper was initially designed to "bridge the gap" between the Newcastle and Durham divisions of the university poor sales in the Newcastle college led to the paper refocussing as a Durham-only publication after just three issues. Several of the Newcastle students involved in establishing Palatinate went on to set up their own paper for Newcastle students, King's Courier. From 2001 until 2004, Palatinate was published in broadsheet format, before reverting to tabloid format. In November 2008, Palatinate launched Indigo, an arts and features pull-out supplement, and celebrated its 700th edition. In May 2011,…

Palatinate is published by, but is editorially independent from, Durham Students’ Union. The newspaper has an editorial board of around 80 student volunteers, and its video side, Palatinate TV, has a separate team of a similar size. Students apply to volunteer for Palatinate, which does not charge membership fees. Both the newspaper and TV side train students for free in journalistic skills, including media law, video editing, camera operating, lighting and sound, and newspaper design software. Many students every year leave Palatinate to work directly for media organisations or pursue postgraduate qualifications in journalism. There are two Editors-in-Chief of Palatinate, elected by the…