It should be of little surprise that newspapers are not faring too well in our explosive digital age. After all, by the time newspapers hit the doorstep of subscribers, the news on the front page is already a day old. It is tough for the paper to compete with other news sources like television and the Internet, which delivers news as it happens. In fact, the print industry is going through a detrimental decline, even though more news content is churned out today than ever before. In addition, there are thousands of people who read and watch the news every day. Yet, these news consumers get their news from sources other than newspapers, which has caused newspaper readership to continually plummet despite earnest efforts to save it. In fact, the nation’s newspaper circulation dropped another 7.1 percent in 2007-2008 and is continuing to slowly dwindle today, according to an article published in USA Today.
School papers are facing the same threat that national and local newspapers are facing. Cal State Dominguez Hills lost its newspaper due to severe budget cuts, making it the first public university without a campus paper. Many advertisers have left newspapers for other media of promoting their products and services, and without advertising revenue, many newspapers are left scrambling to make ends meet. Even at college campuses, newspapers are adopting drastic measures to keep their student-run publications on the campus. Slimming down the paper is one of the easiest ways to cut costs. The expenses for printing papers, paying staff members, and purchasing raw materials can add up. By cutting circulation, school papers can cut down on overall printing expenses. The University of California in Berkley’s paper is one such edition that has utilized this cost-cutting method. It got rid of its Wednesday edition and reduced the staff size in order to keep the paper running.
Another effective way to keep the spirit of the newspaper alive is to possibly get rid of it altogether and change to a purely online format. The Internet is the go-to news resource for many people as most of them always have access to a computer. Some have even adapted to become extremely technologically-savvy news sources, such as the University of North Carolina’s newspaper, which has its own Twitter account and Facebook page. Though school papers are facing crises in readership and budgeting just like other local newspapers, they have the chance to experiment with ways to bring their audience back.
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