By Rachel Feintzeig
It’s no secret that journalism isn’t exactly the happiest of industries these days. Plummeting circulation rates, corporate takeovers, and widespread job cuts have been plaguing traditional print media outlets—namely, metropolitan area newspapers—for the past several years, and they show so no signs of abating. So it hasn’t been a huge surprise to those familiar with the industry that things are not exactly peachy keen over at the Los Angeles Times. The clash between the new publisher—a recent transplant sent to the L.A. Times by The Tribune Company, which owns the paper, to reverse declining advertising rates—and the editorial staff, specifically several long-time editors, is a textbook case of business interests versus civic duty, the bottom line versus the old guard, corporate versus community. Even the New York Times article covering the fiasco has a bit of a been-there-done-that air to it, as if reporter Richard Perez Pena has seen this all before (perhaps at the Philadelphia Inquirer?)
What is surprising, however, is the extent to which the downfalls and drama of the professional newspaper industry are beginning to pervade the world of college journalism. For years, college newspapers were relatively insulated from the effects of new media, with advertising and readership rates remaining strong. After all, college papers fill a distinct niche in the media market; students may turn to nytimes.com for the latest coverage of Barack Obama, but they have to turn to their college daily to find out who won the student government elections. And with the majority of co-eds heading to the nearest drop-box a few times a week, it’s easy to convince campus retailers that the best way to reach their clientele is through print advertising. The result: one untouchable pocket of journalistic normalcy, harkening back to the days when life was simple and people were willing to pay for broadsheet.
Until now. Media conglomerates have finally caught on to the success of college papers and since they can’t duplicate the formula in their own markets, they’ve decided to simply take over the markets themselves. Enter poor J. David McSwane, Colorado State University junior and Rocky Mountain Collegian editor, who was informed in January that University administrators were considering forming a “partnership” between the student newspaper and Gannett. Say what? Here are a few of the things that happened during my first month as editor of the University of Pennsylvania's Daily Pennsylvanian: my sports staff nearly revolted, my city news editor was hospitalized, the owner of the bakery downstairs from the paper’s offices yelled at me about a story and made me cry (and probably spit in my food forever thereafter), and I got dumped by my boyfriend. Add a corporate takeover and I might have completely lost it (as opposed to, you know, only partially losing it, which was more or less what happened.)
Fortunately for everyone involved, the aforementioned J. David McSwane seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders and has vowed to fight for the paper’s independence. And students and faculty at Colorado State and other schools across the country have written editorials and columns pledging their support for McSwane and the rest of the Daily Collegian. They argue, and rightfully so, that turning a student newspaper into a for-profit enterprise completely defeats the purpose of collegiate journalism. This isn’t to say that student journalists shouldn’t have to consider issues of circulation and advertising, because they should, and they do. My college paper was not-for-profit but we relied completely on advertising for our livelihood—yes, truly independent student papers receive no university funding—and thus had to confront the same obstacles facing major metropolitan papers today, though on a smaller scale. Still, at the end of the day, we all understood that our goal was to learn, to take risks and make mistakes and grow and develop as journalists and people. We were responsible for exposing our staff to the world of print media and teaching them to be better writers, photographers, and editors, not keeping shareholders happy.
The missions of student newspapers and media corporations are inherently at odds and trying to reconcile the two would do irreparable damage to the institution of journalism. If universities are to be expected to continue churning out quality journalists, their newspapers must be preserved as places that foster creativity and experimentation. After all, J. David McSwane has the next forty years to deal with the pressures of the crumbling media industry. For now, let’s keep the Rocky Mountain Collegian as far away from the LA Times as possible.
