Thousands of people take to the streets every summer. No, this isn’t just the summer rioting phenomenon; I’m talking about popular protest. However, if you live outside of London, you might not realise the scale that popular protest movements are operating on. Namely, because of the lack of media attention that they receive.

We might naively assume that today, our widely connected world does not still rely upon the mainstream media; that what it chooses to report does not restrict our consumption of information, but it might be wise to rethink this assumption. Content by the people for the people is still not yet as powerful as ‘official’ content from news stations. The mainstream media still holds significant power over the information that we consume, even today, when we can freely access so much on the internet. The media controls which section of the unprecedentedly vast amounts of information we are exposed to catches our eye.

Will informal news through social media ever become strong enough to combat this sense of validation?

What social media does provide though, is a glimpse into topics which the mainstream media neglect to report upon in great detail. We can see the selective information supplied by the mainstream press well through its reporting, or lack of reporting, about popular protest.

We can see a dearth of information about the recent protests to draw attention to the atrocities being committed by the Israeli army. Whilst there has been minimal reporting of the protests by the BBC, reports have been vague, and figures that display the size and scale of protests have been vastly underplayed. This information is freely available online for those wishing to research, but has not been presented.  Over a hundred thousand attended the Demonstration for Gaza in late July, with ongoing protests, yet the demo went largely unnoticed by the media.

I could come up with theories as to why there were few reports on these protests. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine the reasoning behind the lack of mainstream media reports about protests and demonstrations, but the worrying fact is that no reason should be prevailing. Protests highlight important issues, and often those overlooked or mismanaged by the administration. For there to be several cases in which these issues were underreported, especially when they have been shown to be important to a significant amount of people, smacks of censorship. It is issues like this which might have contributed to the UK ranking 33rd, falling four places since last year, in The World Press Freedom Index.

Last year’s November 5th ‘Million Mask March’ protests, influenced by the film V for Vendetta and organised by the online organisation Anonymous also went largely unreported, despite huge numbers of participants in over 400 cities worldwide. It was however fairly well covered on social media, the main medium for  participation in and organisation of the event.

June’s People’s Assembly March saw over 50,000 protesters marching against the government’s austerity policies. Again, there was very little to no mention of in the mainstream media; reports which did emerge focused upon Russell Brand’s involvement in the cause.

As we increasingly look to social media as the source of our news, it will be harder and harder to ignore the things that people are talking about. Journalists will feel a greater a responsibility  to talk about the stories that matter to people. Maybe in future we will see better reporting about protests involving tens of thousands of people on controversial issues, which might not be convenient news stories, but are stories that matter.

In a recently published study of twenty major British universities by HSBC Oxford came out as second most expensive. According to the data Oxford has a weekly cost of £273, narrowly behind UCL and Imperial’s first-place £283 but far ahead of Cambridge’s £220.

Multiplying by 52 to transform this into annual terms, it would seem to suggest an annual cost of living of over £14,000. The University currently estimates that the cost of living for a student in 2014/5 will be between £8,000 and £12,000. From personal experience even this may be too high. The problem is with how the HSBC figures were calculated.

Take the ‘travel pass’. Probably influenced by London universities, where students often have to live away from central London and thus commute daily, HSBC added the cost of a ‘weekly travel pass’ to its calculations. For Oxford this is £16 a week. However, this cost is largely irrelevant for most; the majority of Oxford students are able to walk or cycle to any place in the city. Even St Hugh’s isn’t more than a 30 minute walk away.

Also included is the cost of ‘study essentials.’ Again, this may be redundant when it comes to Oxford. As a historian I have a weekly reading list of about a dozen books yet I have never had to buy a single one of them; the Bodleian Library holds eleven million of them. Even if I did, my college, like most others, provides a generous grant for purchasing academic material.

Most importantly however is the fact that this data was calculated as a weekly cost, not an annual one. Oxford terms are significantly shorter than elsewhere, and even with an extra week for Prelims (exams taken at the end of the first year) students won’t generally spend more than 30 weeks a year in the city. For instance unlike private accommodation in many other universities, in Oxford you only pay rent during term time.

If we reduce the weekly cost to £250 (minus 16 for the travel pass and another 7 for study essentials), then multiply it by 30 weeks we get £7,500 a year. This seems to be significantly closer to the truth than the other calculations.

I spent around £7,000 this year while studying at Oxford, which includes unexpected trips to both Albania and Poland. If I hadn’t paid for that, and also had either the skill or the motivation to cook for myself, I could easily have done it for less than £6,000.

Neither can we forget grants. While many grants are available to all EU students regardless of the university, some are funded directly by Oxford. For instance the ‘Oxford bursary’ pays up to £4,000 in the first year.

So my advice to all potential freshers thinking of applying to Oxford is simple: don’t panic about the cost. Combining adequate budgeting with grants will get you through. Concentrate instead on choosing a degree you’ll enjoy.