Interest in student newspapers at Vermont colleges and universities is up, and not just the Web versions! As The Burlington Free Press reports, “Never mind online editions, which are popular among parents and alumni. The students themselves are still reading the good old hard copies.”
Even The Cynic at the University of Vermont is optimistic about the popularity of its print(errific) edition. Same for The Campus at Middlebury College. According to the paper’s editor in chief:
We have tried in past years to enhance the potential of the Web site by making it an interactive portal for more than just our print newspaper (blogs, videos, etc.), but have not been able to make much progress. Our focus here on campus remains on the print issue.
But wait, the naysayers will argue, a focus on print will leave you less prepared to enter the Webedeviled world of the professional j-industry. Maybe so. But I think it’s also time for a chicken-and-egg question in response: Along with what students need to learn about the professional press awaiting them in the future, isn’t it time for the professional press to look back and learn from certain facets of the studet media’s obvious print success?
I don’t think so. The “professional” media do not live in the captive audience, extremely local environs that the college press lives in. College students read the paper before their classes, etc. There is not as much competition on the college campus for news about the college itself.
Further, print product success isn’t necessarily “up,” as readership numbers have always been in the 80s percentage wise.
And this quote is telling:
“We haven’t done any official surveys,” said Andrew Dennett, editor of the weekly The Defender at St. Michael’s College, “but based on observations of the dining hall and other common areas, I would say that most of the student body and faculty read The Defender every week.”
Never confuse anecdotes with data, right?
It is a “chicken and egg” phenomenon, but I’m curious to know how much of the print product’s success is actually attributable to the writing/design of the current crop of students, and how much is attributable to the fact that it’s still a more-or-less monopoly product.
This is a *great* discussion topic overall! It’s a back-and-forth that has played out in the blogosphere and within the collegiate and mainstream press at an especially fervent pace this semester. My two cents in response to Bryan’s excellent points… First, absolutely, it’s true that the professional press in general does not exist in the “captive audience, extremely local environs” of the typical college campus. My response: Why not?? It’s obvious this is a key part of college papers’ success. Maybe hyper-local is the way to go? This new media world is ripping the heart out of many professional papers’ old-school operations. Anything and everything should be considered. It seems foolish for the professional j-industry to not look at college papers’ more sustainable retainment of readers and not ask: What are they doing that we could learn from or what do they have going for them that we do not? And one other thing to consider: College newspapers are no longer anywhere near monopolies on a number of campuses. Alternative publications have cropped up, in print and online, in recent years at an astounding rate, especially at schools with dedicated j-programs. (The most I’ve come across is at Northwestern, which boasts at least 16 alt mags and newspapers in addition to The Daily Northwestern.) The Web has made the start-up process especially palatable and convenient for students’ alt ventures. Many are niche certainly and publish less regularly but they definitely possess the power to veer eyeballs away from the student paper. What the college paper might still boast is a monopoly of reputation, an ‘official’ status similar to the Dems and the GOP in American politics. And it also has printed paper conveniently placed across campus. And whether considered old media or not, this paper is still being picked up regularly and at times even passionately by the papers’ uber-diverse audience base at or near their home campuses. Amid all the talk about the death of printed newspapers, why is that? And what does it mean for the future?
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