| About the College Media Network |
|
The College Media Network is the creative network for anyone involved in student radio, press and union entertainments and communications, or anyone studying media or marketing. If you are involved in media, entertainments or communication on-campus, or are studying any of these disciplines, or aspire to work in these industries, then the CMN is for you.
There are four main services we provide...
1. CMN Newswire
If you are involved in writing or editing your university's newspaper, magazine or website, or your student radio or TV station, or you're a student and you run your own website or blog, then this service is for you. The CMN Newswire will provide you will all sorts of interesting story leads.
First, CMN is a specialist student PR agency, we represent all kinds of interesting companies to student media, and can provide you with interesting stories, interviews and competitions.
Second, CMN also provides ready-to-go stories that student journalists can use, either as leads or 'as they are' (ie just re-print the story we provide), for their own publications. These are provided by our sister websites, CMU and Unicorn Jobs, and can be used for free in return for a small credit at the bottom of the piece.
The CMN Newswire is available here online, or student journalists can subscribe to receive twice weekly bulletins with all the latest press releases and ready-to-go stories.
--------------------------------------------------
2. Skills-development programmes
These are programmes that provide students with the opportunity to gain skills and showcase their work by getting involved in real media projects. They combine work experience with more formal media training, and are always linked to a real media platform with an existing audience or readership.
They vary from simple 'contributor programmes', where students can contribute reviews, articles or interviews to an established media on an occasional basis, through to intensive full-time projects, where students receive face-to-face training and one-to-one coaching, while creating content which is published by CMN or its partners.
Most of these programmes are unpaid, but provide expert training from leading media practitioners, proper work experience, and access to materials and interviewees not normally accessible to student journalists.
Some of these programmes are run in association with CMN's sister media (CMU, ThreeWeeks and unicornjobs.com), others with our media partners (such as The Argus in Brighton), and others utilise bespoke media platforms created by CMN, normally in association with brand partners.
Online guides and on-campus workshops providing advice on running media and entertainment, and tips and insights on getting a career in the media, communication and music industries.
CMN has been running skills-development programmes for students for over ten years. Here is what some of our past participants have said:
From the ThreeWeeks programme at the Edinburgh Festival:
From the Unicorn Jobs student contributor programme:
--------------------------------------------------
3. Online guides
We are currently developing a number of online guides which will provide students involved in their universities' newspapers, radio stations or union entertainments with tips and advice on developing, launching, running and marketing media or events. These are being developed in association with leading companies in the professional media and entertainment industries.
--------------------------------------------------
4. On-campus workshops
The College Media Network team have been running workshops on media, entertainment and communication at universities around the UK for over ten years.
We provide these workshops for free (subject to workshop leader travel costs) to students' unions, societies, careers services and academic departments who are looking to provide their students with unique industry insights into best practice and careers in media, entertainment and communication.
Universities we have provided workshops for recently include the Sussex University, Edinburgh University, Kingston University, St Andrews University, Bath University, and the LSE and Queen Mary's in London, while we have also run workshops for both the Student Radio Association and National Union of Students.
These workshops cover a wide range of areas, including:
- How to edit and manage a newspaper
- How to set up and manage a student radio station
- How to market events
- A beginners guide to the music industry
- Careers in journalism
- Careers in PR
- Careers in music
- CV writing skills
Our careers workshops are supported by and co-produced with unicornjobs.com, the careers website for students and recent graduates. CMN and unicornjobs.com are currently offering universities two careers focused workshop programmes which combine CMN's knowledge of the media and entertainment industries, and unicornjobs.com extensive experience in graduate career development. These are as follows:
- Get creative: beginners guides to careers in PR, journalism and music.
- Career starters: expert advice on CVs, job hunting and networking.
These programmes take 3-4 hours to deliver and are being made available for free to universities, subject to workshop leader travel costs. For more information on what workshops CMN and unicornjobs.com can offer you, email george@unlimitedmedia.co.uk.
