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Internet star Jackie Weaver to give guest lecture to journalism students

Jackie WeaverThe star of a viral video of a parish council meeting is set to give a guest lecture to journalism students.

Cardiff University has announced Jackie Weaver will give the talk to students and take questions from them as part of their public administration module.

Ms Weaver, pictured, became an internet sensation after a video of a chaotic planning and environment meeting at Handforth Parish Council, in Cheshire, was widely shared online last week.

The lecture this coming Monday will examine what happened during the meeting, how she was involved in it and how it all went wrong.

According to student publication the Cardiff Tab, it will also focus on the press coverage on local government, the necessity of coverage, and the implications the viral video may have.

Michael Hill, who runs the MA and NCTJ news journalism course at Cardiff, told the Tab: “My colleague, Cathy Duncan, had shared the video of the meeting in our group chat on Thursday night and I was hooked, then I heard an item about it on the Today programme.

“On Friday I was talking about the video with friends and students and even had emails from previous students asking me about what was going on and the legalities of what the meeting hinged on, so I thought I’d contact Jackie to see if she fancied joining us for our next public administration lecture to explain it in person – or at least on Zoom.”

Speaking on Monday, he added: “I was reading a Sunday Times piece about her when she messaged me back and said she’d love to join us for our next lecture so we set it up over the weekend.

“I told the students today and they were as thrilled as I was.”