January 23, 2008

Gannett Eyes Another Student Newspaper

Colorado State University is considering a partnership between its student newspaper and The Coloradoan, which is owned by the Gannett Company, according to the Associated Press.

Gannett has previously bought two student papers in Florida that had been run by for-profit companies.

The Colorado State publication, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, like most student papers, is owned by its university. Gannett’s deal with Colorado State, if completed, could set the stage for the media company’s expansion into the greater student-paper market.

The university’s president, Larry E. Penley, met with The Coloradoan’s editor and publisher yesterday. Students on the paper’s staff were not informed of the meeting and are concerned about a possible takeover, the Collegian reported. Talks are in the early stages, and the university has asked Gannett to write a formal proposal.

The Collegian is perhaps best known for publishing a controversial 2007 editorial that used an obscene word to criticize President Bush. —Beckie Supiano

Comments

1. There is no place for Gannett or any other media company in student journalism, regardless of medium. (I write as a former student journalist and thereafter, a real one so to speak).

   — 11134078    Jan 23, 01:11 PM    #

2. Gannet has a USA Today Collegiate Readership Program that has been cleverly marketed to colleges and universities across the country as a way to enlighten our students and improve the journalism skills of the campus newspaper writers.

   Here is the bottom line- This USA Today program is nothing more than a surreptitious way to curry favor with students and administrators under the guise of providing a valuable educational service to our community. Make no mistake about it. The goal of the USA Today readership program is not to enlighten our students and broaden their perspectives as they would have you believe. Their sneaky plan involves bringing USA Today and usually the New York Times on campus along with the local Gannett metropolitan newspaper- all free of charge to the students but paid for by the college administration. That way they can count all Gannett newspapers on campus as paid circulation and justify ad rate increases. The typical metropolitan newspaper is written on an 8th grade reading level. Is that the kind of education and enlightenment that our students can look forward too?

   A few days after the local Gannett paper and two national papers are made available for free in nice shiny racks on the campus, the multitude of ad reps for the local Gannett paper will be calling on every local business within a 10-mile radius of the campus and they will of course call EVERY national advertiser that has used the college paper in the last 5 years. They will offer the college newspaper ad customers a column inch rate that the college paper can’t possibly match. They will do this long enough to destroy the advertising revenue of the college paper. This is how Gannett gobbles up the competition.

   “Citizen Kane” is often considered by movie critics to be the best >movie EVER PRODUCED. “Citizen Kane” is a 1941 mystery/drama film. Released by RKO Pictures, it was the first feature film directed by Orson Welles. The story traces the life and career of Charles Foster Kane, a man whose career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power.”- Wikipedia It supposedly centers around the life of William Randolph Hearst, the undisputed giant in the newspaper industry in the early 1900’s. He tried everything he could to ban the movie from reaching the theaters and almost succeeded. If you want to see what corporate greed in the newspaper industry looks like, watch the movie.

   But don’t worry. When all looks lost, Gannett will come to the rescue and buy out the college newspaper. By that time, half the students have already been laid off because the decrease in ad revenue has necessitated drastic measures. No problem- except that the students that are left now work for a huge multimedia conglomerate and they can kiss goodbye the editorial freedom they have taken for granted.

   Once the students start working for Gannett, don’t say something that Gannett does not agree with in the college paper, especially when it comes to politics. Study Gannett’s political mindset and commit it to memory or risk being shown the door. Gannett knows how the game is played. Gannett has already bought an independent college newspaper in Florida and is about to buy another student newspaper in Colorado. This is just the beginning. The alarming fact is that Gannett has duped students and their administrators into thinking that their motives are purely altruistic. That should insult the collective intelligence of our future leaders.

   The student newspaper, the last bastion of true freedom of expression in the print media, is slowly being destroyed by a modern day Citizen Kane.

   — anonymous    Feb 2, 09:36 AM    #

Previous: Decades of Neglect in Energy Research Will Be Hard to Reverse, Report Says
Next: Coach's Comments Upset Archbishop