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Weekly joins forces with uni to launch journalism site

A weekly newspaper has joined forces with a university to launch a new student journalism website.

The Milton Keynes Citizen is working in partnership with journalism students at University Centre Milton Keynes to launch the new site, which will feature local news, sport and leisure information.

The site is called CitiBlog and will contain original stories and features by the foundation degree students, as well as those written using content provided by the Citizen.

Under the partnership, the Citizen will use the best piece on its website, in the paper and in Citizen First.

The Johnston Press title has a long-standing relationship with the university and journalism students contribute Student Voice opinion columns, along with occasional articles.

Deputy editor Craig Lewis said: “We have been working with young journalists at UCMK for some time now, and this seemed like a natural progression.

“Running their own website will help these students develop the skills they will need to be successful in what is a rapidly evolving industry.

“Developing our online product, while maintaining our position as Milton Keynes’ number one newspaper, is something we are committed to at the Citizen.

“If we can help young journalists embrace those skills too so much the better.”

CitiBlog will be run by content editor and first year student Liam Andrews.

Journalism course leader Jon Boyle, a former Citizen reporter, said: “This is an exciting project that gives our highly talented students a platform to showcase their articles to the people of Milton Keynes and beyond.

“It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved as the Citizen will be able to cherry pick the best stories for the newspaper, the students will make a name for themselves as professional journalists and their articles will be graded for the work-based learning unit of their course.”

The website can be viewed here.

2 comments

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  • January 31, 2013 at 11:36 am
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    It may be a ‘win. win’ situation for the students but it helps fill pages for free for JP, while experienced journalists are laid off.

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  • January 31, 2013 at 4:23 pm
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    ….and not only JP. In our local paper (online), there is a special page where you can write your own stories. Fame at last.

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