Union to debate banning the Daily Star

They’ll make a decision later tonight


Union Council will consider a plan to remove the Daily Star from sale in The Shop tonight, over the newspaper’s featuring of Page Three.

The proposed plan is an extension to the Union’s current ban on the Sun.

Proposed by Asia Patel – a Union Representative for UEA Nightline and a Committee Member of UEA’s Feminist Society – and backed by Chris Jarvis, Union Campaigns and Democracy Officer, the motion reads in part:

“Policy 1398 covers details regarding the Sun but not the Daily Star.

“The Daily Star also publishes daily photos of topless women on their page three and their newspaper content is very similar to that of the Sun.

“The Daily Star is as problematic as the Sun and should be treated the same.”

It also asserts that “sexualised images belong in their rightful place such as pornography, and not in newspapers” and that “stocking the Sun and the Daily Star is contrary to UUEAS aims of upholding values of equality for all, and of zero tolerance of sexual harassment and sexual assault in conjunction with the currently occurring campaigns.”

Last year’s ban on the Sun sparked controversy among students.

One student at the time condemned the plan, saying: “I think that the boycott infringes upon free speech and that students are mature enough to choose which news publication they read – the Union shouldn’t decide for them.”

Asia Patel defended her proposition: “I think it’s important that we’re not selectively applying policies.

“It’s already been decided by the original motion that the Sun proposes problems that the Union does not want to support and as the Daily Star also proposes those problems, I wanted to make sure that the policy was applied fairly.”

Chris Jarvis added: “We’re lucky at UEA to run our own commercial services. This means that we can decide what we do and do not purchase and sell.

“Last year Union Council voted to withdraw the sale of the Sun newspaper as part of a national campaign against Page 3 and the depiction of women in the national media.

“The motion being debated at Union Council simply aims to ensure that we’ve got a consistent approach to all national newspapers that present the value of women as solely that of their appearance.”

The Daily Star is currently Britain’s fourth most-read tabloid newspaper, with an average daily circulation of 425,000.

This means that it sells more physical copies each day than the Guardian and the Independent combined.