Future of student news
This morning, I got this great article, courtesy of The Kept-Up Academic Librarian. If you don’t click, the jist of the story is that Rutgers’s independent student newspaper, The Daily Targum, is in the midst of a university debate — there is a referendum up to allow students the option to opt out of the $10/semester fee for the publication. Of course, this option could harm the paper significantly, as revenue will fall (and as a former small college newspaper editor, I am aware of how every $10 helps) and circulation statistics will fall, impacting advertisers. This then furthers the cycle of funding.
Although I sympathize with the student editors and writers on this issue, it brings up a lot of thoughts. First and foremost, it’s worth reading the petitition that the staff began here. What stands out to me in this petition is the following line:
“The future of an independent and daily campus newspaper lies solely in the hands of our president.”
This is wrong on so many levels. The truth is that the student fee-funded future of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of the president. The future of the independent newspaper lies solely in the hands of those who pour their blood, sweat, and tears into the paper on its regular basis (I believe The Targum is a six day a week paper). Yes, this is a terrible time for newspapers, as we’ve seen paper after paper filing for bankruptcy, but here’s the time that those in charge need to begin rethinking their service, delivery, and marketing strategies. Although I am dear to the print publication and see it as an important aspect of culture and history, I’m also highly acute to the fact that services like Twitter and newspapers that make all of their content available freely online are bringing the news in more timely, unique, and individualized manners.
Cornell College’s newspaper, the one in which I was charged with the task of co-editing, moved into the online sector my sophomore year of college (2004-2005). To this day, the digital edition is not entirely accessible, as it is a one man operation and hosted (FOR FREE) on an alumni’s web space. He has taken the responsibility to uploading it on a biweekly basis as his because he enjoys it and he sees the value in putting the news online, even if it is only minimal in content. Putting the entire paper online would definitely be possible, though it would run the paper some money in hosting and perhaps a little more in the time it takes for the web editor to upload it. Or maybe it would require that the editors of the paper actually learn how to publish for an online newspaper, rather than continue to hone their skills in products that are meant for print publication.
Other student newspapers, though, are completely online on a daily basis, and they are available freely! Updates are made throughout the day, and news is fresh, timely, and student centered. Of course, these are larger operations, such as the University of Texas’s Daily Texan, but it happens. While students pay a blanket student activity fee, it covers the cost of the operation. Students who want to work for the paper assumedly get a small stipend and/or credit for their work, and they get experience in producing news and content for a digital world.
Although it’s been a couple of years since I attended the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) conference, I’m fairly confident that discussions there are centering around social media as the new model for delivering content and marketing. If libraries are doing it, most certainly the media itself is thinking about it. Personally, I get my news updates from two awesome newspaper Twitter accounts — Colonial Tribune (for my hometown news) and the Statesman (for my local news). I get the overview, and if the story merits more attention, I click the link they provide or I take the time to go to their well-developed websites to find more in-depth coverage. Moreover, the more journalism job descriptions I read, the more they are seeking candidates who know how to use these new tools or people interested in trying them out. The two years I did attend the ACP conference (spring and fall of 2006) each session and each speaker emphasized the need to know how to go digital because the jobs of our collective futures would not be in papers. We needed to think differently.
And now, three years later, the Daily Targum stands on the ground that the future of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of the president of Rutgers University.
The truth is, the future lies in their hands. A little research and networking, as well as a spirit of experimentation would be the lifeblood to save this paper. First, student editors and writers need to remove the idea from their mindsets that newspapers are print publications. Surprisingly, advertisers will still advertise, even in different service models, provided you can work with them on acquiring visitor demographics, which can be done easily through freely available tools like Google Analytics. As more students exist digitally (and by that I mean, their information is out there and they live out there in any number of different sites and services) it’s the responsibility of the news staff to think about how to find their audience and figure out what their audience is interested in actually reading. If there’s a big news event, it should be covered. But do students want yet another opinion on the awful cafeteria food? Likely not.
Watch what students/faculty/alumni/locals are doing and work to develop news and stories around things they’re doing or are interested in. Since the digital footprints are easier and easier to follow, do it! Move to new service models, such as Twittering, Blogging, or Wiki’ing on areas of interest. How about going to a student event and capturing digital video to entice people to come (or to entice people to go to your website!). Bonus points for archiving it digitally, too. Keep your online content fresh and regularly updated. Maintain ties with alumni who are invested in the survival of independent student news, as well as those who were once involved in the newspaper. Talk with advertisers about how much wider the potential audience is for digital content, and convince them that by going digital, they automatically increase their revenue through click throughs — in print, students have to type in a web address or Google it. Online, they can click. And let’s face it: we’re lazy and would much rather click than we would type. Additionally, advertising can be done through non-traditional means, too, as no longer are student newspapers bound by their geography.
Of course, this all requires work on the part of student news editors to think outside of the box. They have to think beyond what they are (or aren’t) taught in college classrooms or by former student editors. It requires substantial time investment but very little monetary investment. It might require moving away from the six day a week production full-scale production to three or four day production. But it would require regular updating, consistent movement, and a keen eye and ear for student interest. It would force upon students regular research and regular networking with other students and with professionals in the field.
Most importantly, it requires an end to the thought that one person or entity is responsible for the demise of the newspaper. The demise is in the traditional method of delivering content and services and in apathy. To gain real experience in the field, which is the cry of those circulating this petititon, then it’s time for these students to do their research, talk with their peers both on campus and on other campuses, and it’s time for them to consider taking risks in new methods of being “with the newspaper.” If — and this is highly, highly unlikely — all 3,690 Rutgers undergraduate students said they would absolutely not pay $10 for a newspaper, the paper is out only $36,900. That money can easily be attained through a little creative thinking, a willingness to take risks, stopping or abating the six day a week PRINT publication, and — at worst — a cut in the amount those working on the paper probably make (it’s pennies, I know, and as students it’s millions, but those dedicated to the causes which they claim to be will work for nothing).
But to throw a major bone to the students who likely do work tirelessly on the Daily Targum, this entire thing is quite a ridiculous proposal by the school. It’d be nearly impossible to monitor who does and does not receive the paper on a daily basis or to ensure those cheapskates not paying $10/semester do not access the paper online or pick one up left on a dining hall table. The proposition is perposterious. Likewise, in the grand scheme of the cost of college, the $10 fee is so small, most would likely still pay it. And if this passes, it’ll be interesting to see what other services the school will put up as optional fees — and for most students, I suspect there would be a great rally around optional fees that continue to float funds into the already huge budgets of university athletics that they either are not involved in, do not care about, nor wish to continue sponsoring. I suspect if that were the case, though, athletic directors would pull from their alumni base and show how they are somehow an asset to an entire student body in ways that a student newspaper could EVER be (and if you don’t sense my sarcasm there, I’ll be clear in stating I am 100% into the value a student paper that is forward thinking brings to any college/university campus).
I hope this issue is actually a service to the paper. It gets them press, and it gets them thinking about how to ensure their goals and purpose as a paper remain. I hope it causes them to think about the culturally and historically important role they and the newspaper play in a community, particularly such a niche community such that a university campus is. As the second oldest student newspaper in the country, I think they have. Here’s an opportunity to stop thinking the future of independent student news lies in the hands of a heartless, money-hungry administrator but instead lies in future-thinking student leaders.
