Save Student Newsrooms
and sell your photos. The Daily Aztec, The State Hornet and The Collegian participated in this campaign two years ago.
You have an opportunity to sell your photos. College Futures Foundation wants on-campus coronavirus photos, and is willing to pay for them. Pitch the photos to Phoung Phy at ply@collegefutures.org. The Foundation is a non-profit that researches and supports equity in California’s public university system. They are available for comment on future stories relating to higher education as well. They’ve done and will do a lot of research.
Saturday is the action day for the national #SaveStudentNewsrooms day of action. Sac State, Fresno State and The Daily Aztec ran opinions on this in 2018. If anyone wants to write an editorial for redistribution on the wire, let me know. This is a great opportunity to fight for press freedoms or solicit donations to help offset the loss from coronavirus.
In an era of decreased local journalism, the proliferation of the term “fake news” to refer to legitimate organizations, and more information shared on the internet than can be consumed, student newsrooms on college campuses are more vital than ever.
That is why The State Hornet is lending its voice to the #SaveStudentNewsrooms movement, on today, its day of action. We join more than 100 programs in calling attention to the growing need for colleges and student bodies everywhere to support student journalism.
Over at savestudentnewsrooms.com, dozens of editorials and testimonials can be read. All are written by student journalists or program advisers — people familiar with the ups and downs of running a student publication.
Recurring themes of these posts are financial insecurity and administrative pressures to become subsidized by the university they serve, potentially sacrificing the independence that is necessary to provide balanced, uncensored coverage of college campuses around the country.
The decline in local newsrooms at daily newspapers has been ongoing since the mid-2000s. There are fewer journalists covering local governments, schools and courts than there were 20 years ago.
Student newsrooms have been affected as well. Declining advertising revenue and the decimation of classified advertising has left student publications reeling. Publications that were once profitable and independent are slashing budgets, staff and — in many cases — turning to their universities to bail them out.
The shrinking viability of student newsrooms has a ripple effect. Not only are there fewer reporters to cover student governments, organizations and university administrations, but, as a result, there are fewer trained journalists entering the professional ranks.
For this reason, student newspapers across the U.S. are participating in the #SaveStudentNewsrooms day of action. The Daily Aztec is not alone in facing these challenges, but, in coordination with student media organizations coast-to-coast, we are looking to raise awareness about the value of the work we do and how it can be supported.
The Daily Aztec has had its own challenges. Ten years ago, the paper printed four days per week, and paid not only its editors, but its writers and photographers as well.
The last several years has seen that output decline. The paper went from four times a week, to twice and now once a week. While we update and publish stories daily online, the loss of a daily print product hurt in both the training of writers and editors and in the amount of advertising it could sell.
By 2012, the newspaper was operating in the red.
Imagine Fresno State without a student newspaper.
No longer would you pick up a fresh copy of The Collegian with news about Associated Students, Inc government meetings – where decisions are made about where your money goes. No longer would you hear the latest developments in the controversies that rattle the university. Or when a tragic incident takes a student’s life, The Collegian would not be there to bring you the stories that help you make sense of unfortunate circumstances that are a part of Fresno State life. Editors would stop trying to make sense of the crazy world we live in, and you would go about your day with little understanding of what is happening around you. Your concerns wouldn’t matter because reporters would no longer exist to ask questions on the issues that are most pressing for you on this campus.