As many of our readers may be aware, our founding in October of last year ruffled some feathers on campus. While we were pleased to be warmly received by countless students and institutions, and to have grown a sizeable readership (to whom we owe our success), not everyone has been thrilled by the appearance of a new independent student newspaper on campus.
In particular, the Editors-in-Chief of the University’s hitherto foremost student newspaper: The Glasgow Guardian have shown a dislike for our reporting. We should say that they are perfectly entitled to this view, as are any of our readers. Everyone is of course free to respond privately or publicly to anything we publish and our contact details are freely available both in print and online.
However, we have always endeavoured to present the truth accurately and pursue stories which we believe are in the student interest, in spite of any vested interests. One story in particular provoked a great deal of controversy which has recently resurfaced.
The story related to Glasgow Students for Choice, who last year were embroiled in a row with Partick Thistle Football Club over the sale of free tickets to the club’s games in order to raise money for a pro-choice charity. We first encountered this story via a reporter while we were editors at The Glasgow Guardian and pursuing it alongside him was what in part led to us founding Hillhead Review.
On Sunday, The Glasgow Guardian claimed that The Herald had “amended” a “series of inaccuracies” in an interview which they carried out with us, as the Editors and Founders of Hillhead Review. This statement is entirely false. The original Herald article in fact added a comment from The Glasgow Guardian.
Their comment contained key inaccuracies. It claims: “[Glasgow] Students for Choice received authorisation to use the tickets for fundraising amongst students and their friends and families…”
In fact, on 1 October 2024, a member of Partick Thistle Football Club’s official Communications & Public Relations team, told the reporter investigating the story while at The Glasgow Guardian: “Unfortunately, this particular group [Glasgow Student for Choice] took it upon themselves to advertise these for sale, which went against written instructions from the club and wasn’t endorsed by the club.
We look forward to the coming year, where Hillhead Review will continue to be a trustworthy voice on campus, as well as a place for free and open discussion
“This was spotted within the hour and requested to be removed as it was against the conditions by which the tickets were donated – the post was then duly removed.”
Our reporter also approached Glasgow Students for Choice for comment but was met with no response.
While this investigation was ongoing, the Editors-in-Chief of The Glasgow Guardian told us that they would not run the story, saying that it was “false” but providing no evidence. However, we believed the story to be of interest to the student community and saw no reason to not pursue it.
Hillhead Review then approached Glasgow Students for Choice for comment on a further two occasions, asking: “A Partick Thistle spokesperson has told us this [sale of tickets] went against their instructions, as the tickets had been gifted to you. Would you like to make a comment?” This request was never responded to and Hillhead Review therefore has no reason to believe Glasgow Students for Choice had any authorisation to sell these tickets.
If, in fact, Glasgow Students for Choice did originally receive permission from Partick Thistle to sell the tickets (as The Glasgow Guardian have now claimed) this would have changed the focus of the story and could potentially have pointed towards something very interesting, such as an ideological dispute within the football club which we would have very much liked to investigate.
We have also received some criticism and suggestions that the story was ‘anti-abortion’. Our position is that no student group should be immune to news coverage, be it positive or negative, regardless of its views.
News coverage of bad-faith acting by Glasgow Students for Choice does not suggest that we have an ideological leaning on the issue of abortion. Instead, we believe that the group are not entitled to a monopoly on abortion rights at the University, nor are above criticism for their actions.
And moreover, Hillhead Review has published multiple news stories and opinion pieces concerning a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.
If The Glasgow Guardian or Glasgow Students for Choice have any proof that the latter were authorised to sell Partick Thistle tickets, we would be very interested to investigate this, and we implore them to get in touch via editors@hillheadreview.co.uk. Until then, we politely ask that claims of “inaccuracies” are amended.
We look forward to the coming year, where Hillhead Review will continue to be a trustworthy voice on campus in terms of reporting, as well as a place for free and open discussion. If you are a University of Glasgow student interested in writing for us, please get in touch.
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