Spring Break
Editorial
College papers: not for sale
Editorial Board
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Ed-Op
When we heard that Colorado State University President Larry Penley was entertaining the idea of selling the school's paper, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, to the Gannett Company, a publicly traded holding company, we all had a similar collective response; "Oh please, no!"
The college newspaper industry has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. College students have $200 billion of spending power annually and many advertisers try to reach those students via college papers. College newspapers have a distinct advantage in visibility over outside media in reaching that demographic. Now large, faceless publishing companies are beginning to buy up student papers to get their hands on some of that money.
The problem is student newspapers are not faceless conglomerates. Most importantly, they exist to serve their university community. College newspapers should serve as unbiased source of news for students and professors at the university level. Universities themselves, like Drexel, put out many publications, but members of the University community need a source of news that hasn't gone through the "spin room" or the marketing department.
Additionally, college newspapers are valuable real-world learning experiences for the students that operate them. At The Triangle, it is students and only students who operate all facets of the paper. This provides a great experience for us as students as we have an opportunity to not only learn how to operate a newspaper, but a business as well.
Gannett already owns two student newspapers, including Central Florida Future at the University of Central Florida and FSView & Florida Flambeau at Florida State University. Those papers were independent of their respective schools and although we disagree with the idea of a paper willingly selling itself to a larger company, they at least were allowed to make the decision themselves. In the case of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, which is governed by the Division of Student Affairs, the university is not even allowing the editors and managers to enter the discussion.
What does this mean for The Triangle?
We are the independent student newspaper at Drexel University. This independence is both editorial and financial. Drexel has no say in what we run or what we do with our money and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Thankfully, the administration at Drexel respects this independence.
We have big plans for the paper. Some of them are more immediate and others will take place over longer time period, but selling ourselves has never been and never will be an option for us.
As more and more of the mainstream media becomes swallowed up by corporations student media is more essential than ever. College newspapers may have limited budgets but they have a zeal for the truth not always found in organizations with profit margins.
The Triangle's editorial board urges the administration of Colorado State to at the very least include the students in this decision.
The college newspaper industry has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. College students have $200 billion of spending power annually and many advertisers try to reach those students via college papers. College newspapers have a distinct advantage in visibility over outside media in reaching that demographic. Now large, faceless publishing companies are beginning to buy up student papers to get their hands on some of that money.
The problem is student newspapers are not faceless conglomerates. Most importantly, they exist to serve their university community. College newspapers should serve as unbiased source of news for students and professors at the university level. Universities themselves, like Drexel, put out many publications, but members of the University community need a source of news that hasn't gone through the "spin room" or the marketing department.
Additionally, college newspapers are valuable real-world learning experiences for the students that operate them. At The Triangle, it is students and only students who operate all facets of the paper. This provides a great experience for us as students as we have an opportunity to not only learn how to operate a newspaper, but a business as well.
Gannett already owns two student newspapers, including Central Florida Future at the University of Central Florida and FSView & Florida Flambeau at Florida State University. Those papers were independent of their respective schools and although we disagree with the idea of a paper willingly selling itself to a larger company, they at least were allowed to make the decision themselves. In the case of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, which is governed by the Division of Student Affairs, the university is not even allowing the editors and managers to enter the discussion.
What does this mean for The Triangle?
We are the independent student newspaper at Drexel University. This independence is both editorial and financial. Drexel has no say in what we run or what we do with our money and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Thankfully, the administration at Drexel respects this independence.
We have big plans for the paper. Some of them are more immediate and others will take place over longer time period, but selling ourselves has never been and never will be an option for us.
As more and more of the mainstream media becomes swallowed up by corporations student media is more essential than ever. College newspapers may have limited budgets but they have a zeal for the truth not always found in organizations with profit margins.
The Triangle's editorial board urges the administration of Colorado State to at the very least include the students in this decision.
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