Photo // Mira Costello
SAVING STUDENT NEWS. As IU Bloomington’s student publication, the Indiana Daily Student, faces a future with no printed newspaper, The Preface stands in strong support of print.
By: The Preface Editorial Board
On Oct. 8, IU Bloomington’s Media School announced that they will eliminate the weekly print edition of the Indiana Daily Student, IU Bloomington’s student newspaper, starting next semester.
The publication has already suffered cuts in the past. According to the IDS, they were cut from five prints per week to two in 2017, then relegated to once a week in 2020. Now, they face an unprecedented, paperless future.
The IDS is not alone in their struggle for support and funding. As advertising revenue moves away from print and into digital spaces, print newspapers everywhere have struggled to stay afloat, with seven-day paper delivery now nonexistent in many cities. On college campuses, lack of print revenue in combination with tightening budgets has been a death sentence for many student publications.
The Preface, too, continues to face shrinking funding and pressure to move our operations online. Printing is expensive, and with costs increasing every year, our annual budget hearings are fraught with pointed questions – why do we order so many copies? How many go to waste? Wouldn’t it make sense to move online? Who really reads the print?
Years ago, when IU South Bend raised the student minimum wage to $10.15 per hour, The Preface saw no budget increase to reflect the almost $3-per-hour rise. As a result, we were forced to reduce printing to three times each month instead of once a week. We have not returned to weekly printing since.
The bottom line is clear: administrators don’t think printing is worth it, and we can’t rely on them to protect it.
In light of the news from Bloomington, administrators at regional campuses may feel empowered to push harder against funding print newspapers. But The Preface believes that student print is more important than ever.
The Preface has been at IU South Bend since 1969, and almost 60 years later, we are still the only student-led source for campus and area news. Our newspaper is part of IU South Bend’s culture, and it represents connection and shared history, from microfiche in the library basement to fresh stacks in our office.
In the Student Government Association office, you’ll find clippings from The Preface highlighting their achievements. Physics Club, the Student Social Work Association, the Honors Program and individually featured students and faculty have done the same. Our own staff excitedly take home fresh copies, ready to show their families their new article or cartoon or crossword puzzle. These community members cherish the print.
The physical edition is also a formative source of employment for graphic design students on our campus, who can create a unique product each week and build a strong portfolio of professional work, allowing them to enter the workforce with experience at a real publication. Without print, this opportunity would be a permanently closed door.
We live in a time of audiobooks and e-readers, which are almost always cheaper and more convenient than physical books. Still, no one looks at you sideways if you tell them you just like books – there’s something special about holding a text, feeling the weight in your hands, collecting a shelf of stories that have changed you. The integration of books into other forms of technology is an exceptional innovation and accessibility tool, but it is not a justification to stop printing books.
In the same vein, there is a sanctity to newspapers. Unlike social media and the noise-filled internet, designed to distract us and profit from our attention, student newspapers give us a chance to pause. While we are always seeking to expand our offerings across all media and platforms, print is intentional, streamlined and designed to let us unplug. Across the board, readers are proven to have greater trust in and connection with print media than online sources.
While student publications fight for our right to take up space on campus, other budget areas flourish. Public salary data suggests that our chancellor is paid over $320,000 per year. According to the IDS, IU President Pamela Whitten received a $175,500 bonus in September on top of her $650,000 base salary, despite a vote of no confidence against her in April. Is this money coming back to students as resources and opportunities? If not, it is time for us to invest directly in student organizations.
According to the Media School’s report on their student media plan, the IDS notes that “increasing mandatory student fees by just $6 a year would practically eliminate the IDS’ deficit.” The influence of a similar change on a small campus like IU South Bend could be astronomical.
Student journalism is a critical part of the American media landscape that has empowered young people and their communities with accurate, thorough and timely information throughout history; any attempt to sideline or suppress that effort sets a concerning precedent for how we value student voices.
Student newspapers should be prolific and widely distributed across as many platforms as possible, even – and especially – when what they are saying is inconvenient for the universities that fund them.
The Preface stands with the Indiana Daily Student as they continue to provide high-quality reporting to their student body in the face of adversity. Contributions to the Indiana Daily Student Legacy Fund can be made at give.myiu.org.
