Catalyst (magazine)
Catalyst is a student magazine published at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. The magazine is produced by the RMIT University Student Union. "Catalyst" is published five times a year and had a readership of approximately 58,000 in 2009 - up from 15,000 in 2004. The implementation of voluntary student unionism in 2006 had a significant impact on the viability of student newspapers across Australia, compulsory student union membership fees having been the major source of income for most. Today, "Catalyst's" funding is drawn jointly from the university and advertising revenue. "Catalyst" benefits from its proximity to the RMIT  School of Media and Communication, which runs a highly regarded journalism program. In turn "Catalyst" alumni are active in the Australian media. Notable former editors of "Catalyst" include journalists Dewi Cooke, Dan Harrison (both now with "The Age"), Patricia Karvelas of "The Australian" and Elizabeth Gallagher. The first edition of "Catalyst", published by what was known then as the Melbourne Technical College Students' Representative Council (later RMIT University Student Union), appeared on 18 May 1944. Editions have also appeared under the names "Revolution Catalyst" and "The Unaustralian". In 2014 "Catalyst" established its podcast "Cataclysm" (released tri-weekly) with each episode  centring around a theme. Previous podcast themes have included animals, the body and secrets. Each episode of Cataclysm also includes a series of regular segments alongside the themed feature stories. Mid-2015 saw one of Cataclysm's popular segments "Politics on the Couch" spawn a webseries collaboration between "Catalyst" and RMITV entitled "Politics at the Belleville". The program was hosted by the same talent as the podcast segment and was released every Friday afternoon. Art of Shoplifting controversy. In 1995, "Catalyst" reprinted a controversial article from "Rabelais Student Media", its La Trobe University counterpart, entitled "The Art of Shoplifting" – one of  seven student newspapers to do so. Although the "Rabelais" editors responsible for the original article were prosecuted for ignoring the ban on its publication issued by the state's Chief Censor; the editors of the other seven newspapers were not targeted by the authorities. Charges against the "Rabelais" editors were later dropped. Digitisation. In 2020, a combined project was undertaken by RMIT University Library and RMIT University Student Union to digitise the back issues of "Catalyst". As of October 2020, 804 issues covering the period 1944-2020 had been uploaded in the Library's digital collections.