The Tab

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The Tab
250px
Type Tabloid newspaper
Format Online
Owner Tab Media Ltd
Editor numerous
Founded June 2009
Political alignment Populist
Official website www.tab.co.uk

The Tab is a group of newspapers for students based in London and published by Tab Media Ltd. It was launched at the University of Cambridge and has expanded to 12 other universities.

History [edit]

The Tab was launched in 2009 by Cambridge students Jack Rivlin, George Marangos-Gilks and Taymoor Atighetchi.[1] The website was marketed as "Cambridge University's Online Tabloid" promising to "provide fast news and entertainment direct to your rooms".[1] The Tab was initially funded entirely by its three founders, although it now funds itself through advertising and other investment.

At its inception, "Tab Totty", a page-3-esque feature, featured photographs of scantily clad Cambridge University (male and female) students in provocative poses. The feature was widely criticised, with Cambridge University's Women's Officer stating "We can do better as a university", whilst the original model asked for the pictures to be removed. The subsequent controversy was picked up by several mainstream British newspapers, and made international headlines as far afield as India.[2][3][4][5]

In 2009, the site's readers voted BNP leader Nick Griffin "The worst person ever to attend Cambridge University"[6] with 44% of the vote.[7] In early 2010, The Tab ran an April Fool's hoax claiming Griffin had been stripped of his degree. This was subsequently reported by The Sun who believed the claims to be genuine.[8]

In its first year of existence, The Tab made more than 20 appearances in the national media.[9]

In November 2010, The Tab released documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act detailing recent disciplinary procedures enacted across the University.[10][11] Details from the documents released were then reported by national newspapers The Telegraph[12] and the Daily Mail,[13] focusing on an incident at Churchill College in 2007.

In June 2011 The Tab published a pilot print edition of 5,000 copies in May Week and another freshers' week edition in October 2011. This tradition continued in freshers' week 2012.

In autumn 2012 The Tab expanded to 12 other UK universities. Backed by external investment, Rivlin and Marangos-Gilks aim to build a mass circulation online paper for students across the country. Ahead of the expansion, Tristan Barclay joined as Assistant Editor.

Major scoops for The Tab included the Milking craze, which was broken by the Newcastle edition[14] and went around the world.[15] In December, the Bristol title revealed a ban on female speakers at the university's Christian Union.[16]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b About Us, The Tab, Cambridge, UK.
  2. ^ Richard Edwards, Cambridge University in 'totty' row, The Telegraph, 29 October 2009.
  3. ^ Rowenna Davis, Cambridge's tawdry tabloid 'totty'. The Guardian, 27 October 2007
  4. ^ James Clothier, Cambridge girls in sexy pics row, The Sun, 30 October 2009.
  5. ^ Nicola Boden, Cambridge University row students set tabloid website complete with Page Three, Daily Mail, 30 October 2009.
  6. ^ The Guardian, Diary, 4 December 2009
  7. ^ Jack Rivlin, "Official: Griffin is Worst Tab", The Tab, 28 November 2009
  8. ^ Sun April fooled by student's BNP story, News Blog, The Guardian, 2 April 2010.
  9. ^ The Tab's Facebook page
  10. ^ Alasdair Pal, Deaned!: Cambridge Discipline Uncovered, Part 1, The Tab, 1 November 2010
  11. ^ Alasdair Pal, Deaned!: Cambridge Discipline Uncovered, Part 2, The Tab, 8 November 2010
  12. ^ Martin Evans, Discipline files reveal high jinks of Cambridge students, The Telegraph, 10 November 2010.
  13. ^ Andrew Levy, Cambridge college dean Dr Priyamvada Gopal propositioned by drunk student, the Daily Mail, 10 November 2010.
  14. ^ http://newcastle.tab.co.uk/2012/11/22/milking-the-new-craze/
  15. ^ http://newcastle.tab.co.uk/2012/11/26/holy-cow-outrage-as-milking-goes-international/
  16. ^ http://bristol.tab.co.uk/2012/12/03/christian-union-gags-female-speakers/

External links [edit]

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