What’s next for Tharunka?

Approximately a week after our initial article covering the disappearance of Tharunka, an update was posted to the Arc website regarding the future of the new paper.

While a name is yet to be announced, newly appointed ‘Media Project Officer’ Dominique Lakis posted to a blog on Arc’s website that they were engaging in “scholarly research on the future of journalism, ethical media practices, the design of digital media and the shifting media landscape”, in addition to “consultations with First Nations student collectives”.

Additionally, a survey was made available in a private Facebook group used for Tharunka writers over several years, which asks former student writers, editors and designers about the benefits of working with the paper, as well as more nuanced questions on its operational structure, approvals process, and the hierarchy of authority currently in place.

Despite the claims from Arc that the new publication will be produced at the start of Term 2, we are yet to see any hints of this occurring. The latest updates on the Arc page indicate little in terms of visible results, other than a redesign of the existing Tharunka web pages.

“…Your answers pretty much design the entire publication... What you are saying is then transformed into a student publication. You think print should go? It goes,” Lakis stated in a blog post. 

While we have limited information on the nature of the new paper, an update at the start of April indicated that suggestions are still being taken, and that the details of the new publication have not been finalised. When contacted, the Project Officer redirected us to Tharunka’s old page on the Arc website, where she has attempted to “create a public forum where [Lakis is] submitting semi-regular updates” regarding the new publication. Unfortunately, she denied our request to leak potential options for the new publication’s name, having likely been barred from doing so by Arc’s media policy.

Her post continued, “You want more print but done differently? We publish more print in a different style. You want podcasts/radio? We find a way to do it. You think the name should be a First Nations word? We go about it the right way. You want it to only be online? We scrap print. You think TikTok is the best way to get news? We find a way to include it.”