August 25, 2008

Fiscal Crisis Leads Berkeley's Student Newspaper to Cut Publication and Staff

Berkeley, Calif. — The downturn in the newspaper industry is beginning to take a toll on student newspapers as well. The independent student newspaper at the University of California’s campus here, The Daily Californian, announced today that it would cut back its publication and reduce its staff because of declining advertising revenue.

The 135-year-old paper is particularly vulnerable to changes in the market for newspaper advertising because, unlike most college papers, it is financially independent of the institution it covers. Editors at the paper, which publishes about 10,000 print copies each weekday, made it independent of the university in 1971, after a dispute with university administrators over the content of an editorial.

The newspaper is eliminating a print issue on Wednesdays, cutting its staff by 25 percent, and reducing pay to some editors and reporters, according to an announcement by its editor, Bryan Thomas. The paper is starting a campaign to build an endowment and is offering new forms of advertising in an attempt to raise new revenue and return to a five-day-a-week publication schedule, Mr. Thomas said. —Josh Keller

Comments

1. treeversion papers with 12 hour old news are a dead business model…please consider going into the 21st Century and shut-down the treeversion, and simply move online…just a thought…

   — deadmonz    Aug 26, 05:41 AM    #

2. Maybe if they did not spew hatred in their articles people would advertise. As far as the guy above, i say print it on recycled paper because my laptop is to hard to read in my home libary….

   — oh boy    Aug 26, 09:17 AM    #

3. When I was an editor at “The Dartmouth” we were also independent and we were all volunteers. The editor in chief would put in more than 40 hours a week! Maybe they should eliminate pay for editors and reporters.

   http://rightwingprofessor.blogspot.com/

   — right wing professor    Aug 26, 10:03 AM    #

4. The Daily Cal is a great newspaper. It might not cater to #2’s taste, but for those of us who did attend Cal, it provided a voice, unrestricted by university oversite, that lived up to Berkeley’s free speech movement. The Bear will not quit. The Bear (hopefully) will not die.

   — Go Bears    Aug 26, 12:24 PM    #

5. The Columbia Daily Spectator is also financially independent and does not pay its editors, reporters, etc. I’m surprised that the Daily Californian does. I second #3’s suggestion that the paper stop paying students to work for it.

   — CU Alum    Aug 26, 02:22 PM    #

6. I see that there is also a no-trees edition: http://www.dailycal.org/

   — WB    Aug 27, 09:42 AM    #

7. I wouldn’t say treeversion papers are dead at all, especially on college campuses. In fact, college newspapers across the country have extraordinarily high readership, averaging over 80% in most cases. It’s a completely different business model than commercial newspapers. Many, many college newspapers “pay” their editors and reporters, but this pay is very small and works out to pennies an hour. I’m not sure of the exact circumstances here, but there are many college papers doing fine financially. This could just be a situation of poor management.

   — DO    Aug 27, 09:54 AM    #

8. The first sentence of the story is incorrect. Many student newspapers are thriving — even those with paid student ad and news staffs. It’s not one factor, but many, that determine failure vs. success. Most niche publications, of which student newspapers are a part, are doing well.

   — MG    Aug 27, 10:51 AM    #

9. College newspapers ARE being read by students, advertisers are choosing to spend their money else where – and not because their ads don’t work. Most are going else where because they lump college papers in with the rest of the industry and just think no one is reading the paper.
   As to #1 and going online only, clearly you are not informed about the massive failure of any print-to-online-only college paper. A few papers have tried this only to go back to a print version or shut their doors. Is this really what we want, no student voice on college campus? Even if you disagree with your local college paper odds are the decisions are made by students, not faculty or the administration. Indeed, college newspapers are probably the last truly free speech forum in the US. No corporate control, allowed to cover topics most “professional” media outlets won’t even touch – until the local college newspaper does.

   — BA    Aug 27, 11:15 AM    #

10. Clearly #1 here does not have a clear understanding of “business models” I would like for him/her to compare revenue generated from online to that of the so-called dead tree version ? If you do that then you will really see a dead business model. Check your facts before your knee jerks.

    — Bon Kelly    Aug 27, 12:18 PM    #

11. Save the Daily Cal. It’s truly a campus community newspaper, not just a lab run by professors for journalism students.

    — Patricia    Aug 27, 12:58 PM    #

12. Thanks to 10 and 11 for pointing out that moving newspapers online solves nothing – it has in large part been the reason papers are failing. And I can appreciate the opinions of those who defend trees as victims of the evil journalists. But, seriously, with proper replanting programs and strong recycling efforts, this world can continue to use paper and have trees.

    — RH    Aug 27, 07:41 PM    #

13. To MG (#9):

    There is no inconsistency between “the downturn in the newspaper industry is beginning to take a toll on student newspapers as well” and “many student newspapers are thriving — even those with paid student ad and news staffs”. Your point is probably correct, but there is plenty of room for the article’s claim to also be correct.

    — CU Alum    Aug 29, 02:44 PM    #

Previous: Yet Another Political-Science Conference Site Comes Under Scrutiny
Next: A Mysterious Silence Emanates From Warren National U.