Sajal Singh is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in economics. In her first year, she began writing as a contributor writer for The University Times before subsequently writing for Trinity News and Misc. In her second year, she was appointed as Deputy Magazine Editor for The University Times. Currently, she serves as Features Editor for the paper along with Trinity News’ Deputy Arts and Culture Editor.
As we sit down to begin the interview, she admits that she is nervous and that it is a weird feeling to be at the other side of the interviewing table. However, we soon get into an easy discussion reflecting on her journey into student journalism from her time as Editor for her School’s Magazine in India to the influence Normal People had on her, adding “I just wanted to be the next muse for a Sally Rooney novel!” before bringing us to the present day.
Singh can be seen as part of a new cohort of writers for the University Times joining the paper after scandals surrounding the previous Senior Masthead of the paper. In reflection of this, she says she has made herself aware of prior incidents and says “one of my major manifesto points is responsible reporting, because it’s really important that when an article is written, it should be edited, copy edited, discussed, if it’s involving other people’s names, and that we can hold town halls, where we can hold meetings with the team, with people who want to get on board and, you know, give their input on how we should be more aware and more careful about reporting news.”
She adds that “I’m going to do some of my homework” and says that she will take “some courses about ethical reporting.” I asked Singh to expand on this and she said that there was an ethical journalism course that online course provider Coursera provided remotely.
She acknowledges the work that the current editor of The University Times, Brídín Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce and prior editor, Clara Roche had done during their tenure to restore the integrity of the paper and adds, “I just hope that I’m able to continue that reputation and legacy, and just if I’m not sure about anything, I will take advice from the faculty or people who know that have experience, and I think there are a lot of people that will help out and create the newspaper the way it should be.”
She adds that she agrees with Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce’s view on impeachment. “It’s not something that should be talked about so lightly, because it’s really an important issue, and if need be, there is obviously the provision of impeachment that should be put into place, but in extreme cases, right?”
I asked Sajal to reflect on the different features Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce has implemented during her editorship. She acknowledged the importance of reinstating the UT journalism school in conjunction with the Trinity Access Programme (TAP). She also referred to this year’s process of onboarding the editors. However, she also adds “There are a few things that still need to be worked on.. for example, we did not have a proper indesign workshop.” She ensures, “I will lay out roles for all the editors properly, and then hold workshops so that everybody is on board with the same kind of enthusiasm as well as the knowledge.”
She reflects on her experience within student journalism at Trinity as a positive one. Singh described how supportive everyone has been and has described it being “a part of this big community.” However, she does acknowledge that it is mainly English students in these roles and wishes to bring change to this through the implementation of new roles. In creating the role of an Outreach director, Singh says, “I feel like if I create a dedicated position for an Outreach Director who works closely with me and also the rest of the team, to just work. That person has a specific task, to just do sponsorships, to just reach out to anybody who’s not in the team and connect with the industry so that we can bring in more people for interviews or for sponsorships, and also like societies, because oftentimes we don’t have connections all the way.”
Singh also adds that it is important to mention her work within the Trinity-inclusive curriculum. She describes “we used to hold meetings around table, meetings where from the faculty, people used to come sit there, and we used to formulate policies around how Trinity can be more inclusive to people with disabilities or ethnic minorities and stuff like that. So on that table, I got really good perspectives about what Trinity is doing in terms of support to the students. And surprisingly, there are a lot of issues.”
She says in her roles as Features Editor she has strived to highlight topics that do not have enough coverage in student media. Singh reflects on talking to students who are parents and how Trinity is supporting them and support that international students have. She says, “ I think there’s a lot of issues that need to be talked about and that don’t reach us necessarily, so we need to go out there talking to people and engage with them.”
Within Singh’s first month as editor, her goal would be to expand the team. She says, “I feel like we’re not that big of a team to ensure that, you know, the entire college community is represented, especially I remember Brí and her manifesto last year also had mentioned that she would be creating new editorial roles regarding the international editors or the LGBTQ plus editors. But that still hasn’t happened yet. So during my first month, at least, I’ll make sure that we have a solid, solid team that represents all sections of the student community, LGBTQ affairs, international, Erasmus editors, and ethnic minorities.”
She hopes to give one-on-one time to everybody but does acknowledge that this may not be a possibility all the time. Her priority is “to form that connection with everybody, let them know what the expectation of the role is, and if they need any help, they should not feel hesitant in ever approaching me.”
In terms of social media and video journalism, Singh says, “seriously some works that needs to be done.” In her manifesto, Singh writes that she hopes to expand reach through “One Minute News Reports and More Video Content.” I question how she plans on making this content unique from Trinity News’ social media content and says, “I’m not saying that we need to, you know, copy and do, like a weekly review kind of thing, because, although if one group is doing that, you don’t need to. But just if we’re reporting something, let’s say, if we’re reporting a protest happening around the camp, I wanted to be on video as well. We can’t just be doing a photo, because that’s not the attention span that we’re looking at now?”
Other features she hopes to implement include growing the Irish language team with regular workshops and creating “A Professional Edge Section” which Singh describes will include advertising job opportunities and previous alumni sharing their job experiences. She emphasises “if we can get alumni on board, that would be amazing.”
In her last words, I asked Singh to summarise why people should vote for her, “I think it’s time that the University Times becomes diverse, innovative and fearless … we need to report news that’s important, and we need to tell stories that matter…. I hope I can be an editor who people just can come up to and have a conversation.” She adds, “I think my experience is good enough. I have been part of all college publications, and getting engaged with the college community is something I feel passionately about, and I would be very happy to do it as the editor.
