National news has become more readily available to students
living on campus as UCLA takes part in the pilot stage of the
Collegiate Readership Program.
The program is in a four-week trial where national newspapers
are delivered to each of the dining halls free of charge. After
this period, students living on campus will vote on whether to
continue with the paid program.
Should the paid program come to UCLA, all students living on
campus will incur a yet-undetermined fee. The fee depends on the
papers selected and the rate of consumption during the trial
period, said Jack Gibbons, associate director of the Office of
Residential Life.
UCLA offered the program two years ago, but students rejected
it, largely due to the cost. All students living on campus would
pay the fee, even if they do not read the papers.
The Collegiate Readership Program was developed by USA Today in
1997 for Penns State University, based on an earlier model used at
Tufts University. The program met with support from university
officials but resistance from student media there.
Since the initial program, over 450 colleges and universities
have taken part in the pilot program, and about 240 have continued
with the paid program.
Student newspapers have tended to oppose the program due to the
far-reaching effects of competition from national newspapers.
“We have heard from campus newspapers that they feel that
this will detract from their circulation but I haven’t seen
any evidence of that,” said Robin Bristol, national education
manager for USA Today.
While student newspapers can hardly expect to compete with the
scope and depth of national newspapers’ reporting, student
papers have a distinct edge in local and school-specific stories.
For this reason, proponents of the program believe student papers
will not be harmed.
Typically, the program offers USA Today, The New York Times and
a local paper to each school. Some student editors are concerned
about the threat both national and local papers could have on
advertising.
According to a letter to the Wall Street Journal from Eric
Jacobs, general manager for the Daily Pennsylvanian, the Newspaper
Association of America initially promoted the readership program as
a way to gain advertising revenue that might otherwise have gone to
student papers. Outrage from campus newspapers led the NAA to
abandon this stance.
But advertising losses may not even be the immediate concern for
campus newspapers; the real threat of the readership program lies
beneath the surface.
The Penn State student newspaper, the Daily Collegian,
experienced a severe decline in circulation after the program was
implemented. Although the paper saw circulation increases in 2002
and 2003, the enrollment of the school also went up. The statistics
are also misleading because increases in circulation do not
necessarily mean more papers are being read.
Gerry Lynn Hamilton, general manager of the Daily Collegian,
said in addition to the downward pressure on circulation, the paper
has had a sharp increase in returns, meaning more papers remain at
each distribution point at the end of the day.
The Collegian increased the number of distribution points and
the number of copies printed to be more competitive with the
readership newspapers. Because of these efforts, the Collegian is
currently in its third consecutive year of net financial
losses.
Hamilton believes the paper would not have sustained such losses
if not for competition from the readership program.
“By May 31, 2002, we were spending $180,000 per year on
things we have added since (the program began),” Hamilton
said.
“Some of those expenses we would have added anyhow, but we
never would have deliberately spent more money than we were
generating,” he added.
As the program attempts to come to UCLA, the Daily Bruin and the
whole of campus student media face similar consequences.
Daily Bruin Editor in Chief Kelly Rayburn believes competition
from national papers would discourage students from reading The
Bruin and give advertisers less incentive to advertise in college
papers.
“But this is not just the Daily Bruin that could be
affected if this program goes through,” he said.
Since revenue from the The Bruin is distributed throughout
different parts of UCLA Student Media, financial losses incurred by
The Bruin could affect other campus student media, including the
newsmagazines and UCLAtv.
Some student newspapers have given their support to the
readership program.
“I haven’t seen a drop in our readership or
distribution,” said Travis Paveglio, head news editor of The
Daily Evergreen, the student newspaper of Washington State
University, which recently began the readership program.
Rayburn said since every college newspaper is tailored to its
particular audience and each has its own specific coverage, some
will not be harmed by the readership program.
“With some college newspapers, it’s not an issue of
competition,” Rayburn said.
“If (students) don’t pick up the Daily Bruin,
they’re going to be missing out on important campus
news,” Rayburn said.
But the decision to accept or reject the program ultimately
rests with the students.
“The students are just going to have to decide whether
they want to essentially raise their student fees to pay for these
newspapers,” Rayburn said.