''The Beaver'' is the fortnightly newspaper of the LSE Students' Union at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
, England.
''The Beaver'' has had some of its stories being picked up by the national press. One thousand copies are published and distributed around campus every other Tuesday during term time. Articles are also published online daily. ''The Beaver'' is governed its society which is free for any LSE student to join. The paper is made up of sections News, Opinion and Features in addition to its magazine ''Flipside''. The Beaver also produces Beaver Sound '' a multimedia podcast platform.
History
Named after the school's mascot, the beaver, which was chosen "as representing an industrious animal with social habits", ''The Beaver'' newspaper was first published in its recognised format on 5 May 1949, and is one of the oldest student newspapers in the UK. The British Library of Political and Economic Science holds print and digital archives of the paper dating back to this first issue, which was christened by George Bernard Shaw, one of the LSE's founders. Since then it has gone through several makeovers, survived LSE's turbulent history and emerged to be one of the most respected and widely read student newspapers in the UK.
News
''The Beaver''s news section has consistently been among the strongest in UK student media, consisting of LSE, University of London and Higher Education stories from across Britain, sometimes being quoted in the national press, including ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
Opinion publishes pieces discussing issues that are relevant to the LSE community, political analysis, social commentary, and debate. The extensive range of articles and letters featured reflects the broad readership of the paper. Contributions to the Comment section have been wide-ranging and varied, from former LSE Director
Sir Howard Davies
Sir Howard John Davies (born 12 February 1951) is a British economist and author, who is the chairman of NatWest Group and the former director of the London School of Economics.
He was the first chairman of the Financial Services Authority. Da ...
to lay students. The name of the section was changed from Comment to Opinion in 2020.
Features
The Features section of the paper deals with international relations, politics and strategic affairs. Interviews are a quintessential part of the section, and previous interviews conducted by Taryana Odayar have been with Economics Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen; ministers such as Marcelo Neri, the former Brazilian Minister of Strategic Affairs; North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee; Dr Mattia Romani, Managing Director for Country and Sector Economics at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and academics such as German Historian Sonke Neitzel. Other prominent interviewees have been
Sir Nicholas Stern
Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, (born 22 April 1946 in Hammersmith) is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Cli ...
and
Queen Noor of Jordan
Noor Al-Hussein ( ar, نور الحسين; born Lisa Najeeb Halaby; August 23, 1951) is an American-born Jordanian philanthropist and activist who is the fourth wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan. She was Queen of Jordan from their marriag ...
, and Ambassadors such as the Lithuanian Ambassador to the UK. In 2019, the Features section interviewed
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...
, former communications director to UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
.
Flipside
Launched in 2018, ''Flipside'' encapsulates all the magazine sections of the Beaver. The primary feature of ''Flipside'' is a fortnightly interview featuring one or more prominent members of the LSE community. It also features sections which previously belonged to The Beaver – Sport and Part B – and created the new sections Social and Review. The name Flipside is a reference to the fact that relative to the other sections of the paper it is printed upside down which requires the user to flip the paper around to read it.
Beaver Sound
The Beaver Sound is the newspaper's new multimedia podcast platform for news since 2019. The platform features series such as LSE Limelight, Crossing the Globe, Grimshaw Speakers, Guftagu (in collaboration with LSESU Pakistan Society), The LSE Starter Pack, and We Know The End.
Notable former contributors
* Richard Bacon - former Executive Editor; now Conservative Member of Parliament for Norfolk South
* James Corbett - former political editor; now contributing editor of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
Sport Monthly'' and author of ''Everton: The School of Science'' and ''England Expects''
*
Ekow Eshun
Ekow Eshun (born 27 May 1968) is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator. He is the editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine ''Tank'', a former editor of ''Arena'' magazine, and the former director of the Institute of Contempor ...
- edited both Features and Arts; now the Artistic Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and a contributor to BBC2's ''Newsnight'' Review
* Simon Gardiner - former AU Treasurer; now prominent philanthropist
*
Simon Garfield
Simon Frank Garfield (born 19 March 1960) is a British journalist and non-fiction author.
Biography
Garfield was born in London in 1960.Stephen F. Kelly - contributor, then producer Granada Television, now author and broadcaster
* Paul Klebnikov - former editor; first editor of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' Russian edition
*
Bernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...
- early contributor to the newspaper, particularly of theatre reviews
* John Stathatos - former executive editor; photographer, writer and art critic whose publications include ''The Book of Lost Cities'' and ''A Vindication of Tlon: Photography & the Fantastic''
Notes
External links
* The Beaver ' online edition
* ''The Beaver'' print editions, issues 756- (starting 8 November 2011 Online archive of at
Issuu
Issuu, Inc. (pronounced "issue") is a Danish-founded American electronic publishing platform based in Palo Alto, California, United States.
Founded in 2004 as a Danish startup, the company moved its headquarters to the United States in 2013.
...