The story of this year’s Ha’Am ““ the UCLA
Jewish student newsmagazine ““ is told through the
publication’s online messageboard.
“How come I never see Ha’Am in print on campus
anywhere?” one poster wrote in January. “Maybe
I’m missing something.”
For Editor in Chief Debra Greene, it’s a complex
question.
“(We’re) kind of starting from scratch,”
Greene said.
The newsmagazine, which has been an online-only publication
since 1999, produced a print issue last spring with the help of a
$3,018 check from an anonymous donor. The cover read,
“Ha’Am is back!” in bold letters.
But the magazine has yet to produce an issue this year, as it
has struggled to find advertisers, maintain a stable staff, and
recruit people experienced with designing and producing a
magazine.
Each of the other six newsmagazines operating under UCLA Student
Media have published at least one issue per quarter this year.
Greene said the magazine, coming off its comeback issue,
originally planned to print fall quarter this year, but got off to
a rough start after she found herself as the only remaining member
of the production staff.
“It was really three people that got it into print (last
spring),” Greene said.
“But (this year) nobody was there,” she said.
“The whole staff left.”
Compounding the lack of writing staff, Greene said the magazine
had no one who was experienced with the magazine’s layout and
design software.
She also said she believes Ha’Am is in an especially
difficult position at UCLA specifically because it is one part of
an involved Jewish community on campus.
As a result, she said, those who are experienced with designing
publications are already involved with Hillel, Bruins for Israel,
the Progressive Jewish Student Alliance, or other Jewish
organizations on campus.
Student Media Director Arvli Ward has a different take on
Ha’Am’s problems. He believes much of the trouble is in
the numbers.
“Lack of advertising was a major reason why Ha’Am
went from print to the Web,” Ward said, adding that
Ha’Am has had the worst drop in advertising out of all the
newsmagazines.
According to Student Media records, the magazine suffered a 57
percent decline in ad sales between the 1997-98 and 1998-1999
academic years, as revenues fell from $10,461 to $4,551.
Since 1999, Ha’Am has had virtually no income, with the
$3,081 donation standing as the only significant revenue for the
past four years.
Ward said Ha’Am’s struggles are evidence of a
general decline in advertising for all Student Media print
publications as a result of the Internet’s gaining popularity
with advertisers.
“Publishing is going to depend more and more on the Web.
We’re not going to be immune to that,” Ward said.
There are also considerations specific to UCLA which make the
university an increasingly difficult publishing environment for
newsmagazines in particular.
Ward said rising student fees are pressuring students to
graduate in four years and get a job, which makes it harder to
retain staff than other years when students stayed in school
longer.
Despite the hardships Ha’Am has been through this year,
Greene said she has established a solid staff of about 15 and said
the magazine plans to publish an issue by the end of this quarter.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ha’Am had not submitted a finished
product to send to the printer.
“I do not at all consider this a failure, ” Greene
said. “This is a step up.”
While Greene said the magazine is still in need of experienced
designers, she said she is confident next year’s staff will
continue to improve.
“I know there’s hope for the future. We have to keep
getting better and better,” she said.
Ward is similarly optimistic about the magazine’s future,
saying the magazine is so small that one “hero” can
have a profound impact.
“It’s responsive enough to one creative individual
that anything can happen,” Ward said.