Controversy flares after IU student newspaper set to end print

The Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University’s student newspaper, will stop printing physical papers starting in the spring, as the university seeks to merge the paper with the school’s TV and radio stations.

According to the IDS’ staff, they were never told of the change, finding out only from a press release just a day before planning to meet with the university. But an IU spokesperson, contradicting the IDS, told the Exponent Wednesday that the newspaper already learned about the change of its own accord before the university could alert staff.

“Tuesday afternoon, one of the IDS editors-in-chief notified the dean that they had obtained a copy of the plan and the IDS was going to publish a story about it that day,” Audrie Osterman, IU’s Media School spokesperson, wrote in an email. “So we decided the best option we had at that point was to share the plan so our community could hear it directly from us.”

The merger comes after years of financial hardship for the IDS has faced by continuing to print, costing the school a yearly $300,000, according to a press release from IU’s media school.

This follows a trend of downsizing the paper over the years. The IDS’ print edition was cut from five days a week to two in 2017 and in 2020, the print edition was cut to weekly, according to the IDS.

The Office of the Provost provided “about $1 million” in support of the newspaper this past July, according to the press release, allowing the organization to “restructure on solid financial footing.” Both Indiana University Student Television and WIUX, the university’s student-led radio station, were already “budget-neutral but have limited revenue-generating capabilities under their current structures.”

The IDS reported Tuesday afternoon that IU had released the plan “before consulting with student media leaders or the IU journalism faculty, even though the school had scheduled meetings with both groups Wednesday.”

IU said they initially planned to announce the change with these members present, but the IDS forced their hand.

Jacob Spudich, co-editor-in-chief of the IDS, confirmed Osterman’s account to the Exponent.

“What she was describing is accurate, but there was no communication to any of the student leaders before they released the press release about the report,” Spudich said.

In its initial report on the cut to print, the IDS writes that the newspaper had “obtained a copy” of the university’s plans before the scheduled meeting, but didn’t mention it had asked IU for comment before the plans were released.

The university plans to make the IDS’ deficit “budget-neutral” in five years, according to the plan. To make this happen, the newspaper will only print “special editions,” a mobile app will be created and all student media will be organized under one label.

When asked for comment, IUSTV directed the Exponent to its online statement, where Executive Director Jack Paley said he was “incredibly excited for the opportunities this convergence will bring to student media as a whole,” but the statement later brought up concerns over pay for all organizations involved.

“In a meeting Wednesday with student media leaders and associate deans Gerry Lanosga and Galen Clavio, Dean Tolchinsky would not confirm if student pay at the IDS would continue,” Paley wrote, “or if IUSTV and WIUX members would also be paid under the new plan, stating said ideas and plans are up to the organizations to work out.”

Osterman told the Exponent she asked Lanosga about the pay allegations. He reportedly said IDS pay is continuing and “the goal is to work towards equity for the other outlets.”

Spudich also said IDS reporters will continue to be paid.

“We believe the idea that student media will generate significant revenue merely by converging business operations is naive,” co-editors-in-chief Spudich and Marissa Meador wrote in an editorial Thursday. “While IUSTV and WIUX are award-winning organizations that deserve far more reinvestment than listed in this report, the organizations do not have the audience the IDS has, making for a difficult pitch to advertisers.”

Ashton Hackman, news director of IUSTV, said he “wholeheartedly disagree(s) with the argument that our organizations would somehow be a turn off for advertisers.”

“We have been prohibited, based on our structure with the university, from collecting or generating revenue on the content we create,” Hackman told the Exponent in an email. “This plan changes that and we are excited for the opportunities this brings.

“If we are somehow so invested in protecting student media, why should we throw other organizations in the mud? This must be a collective effort to work.”

In response to questions about whether he still stood by the editorial, in which Spudich and Meador wrote that IUSTV and WIUX are “a difficult pitch” to advertisers, Spudich provided conflicting answers.

“I don't believe it'll make IDS a bad, difficult pitch for advertising,” he said. “The IDS has built up a foundation and a structure over the many years that we've been here. Through our coverage, through our abundancy in the community and on campus … advertisers want to advertise and it's just, it's going to be difficult for organizations that don't have the audience that the IDS has because it's already difficult for the IDS.”