Article

Paper questions readership program

“I don’t think we’ll ever be comfortable with the way The Star is financing its freebie in competition with other newspapers.” Trevor Brown, dean, IU School of Journalism
J.M. Brown - The IUPUI Sagamore (Indiana U. - Purdue U. at Indianapolis)

(U-WIRE) INDIANAPOLIS – Against the advice of journalism educators in Indianapolis and Bloomington, a top administrator at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis has cut a deal that some say could harm the financial status of student publications across Indiana.

Vice Chancellor Karen Whitney has accepted a proposal from The Indianapolis Star – which is owned by the Gannett Company – to distribute the state’s largest newspaper on campus free to students. The newspaper has also made a pitch at Indiana University-Bloomington and most other Hoosier colleges.

IUPUI has not signed a contract with The Star yet, and it is unclear how many papers will be distributed and where. University sources say one scenario could be that The Star would be available in news racks next to The Sagamore at IUPUI.

That possibility, as well as how The Star raises money for the program, alarms journalism leaders at IU and other universities.

In an e-mail to Karen Whitney, Trevor Brown, dean of the IU School of Journalism, said: “I don’t think we’ll ever be comfortable with the way The Star is financing its freebie in competition with other newspapers on campus, free and for sale, including The Sagamore.”

“The free distribution of a major metropolitan daily on campus will harm the readership and advertising support of the Indiana Daily Student” – Bloomington’s student newspaper – “and The Sagamore, two vital forms of student extracurricular activity and valuable contributors to the life of each campus.”

Whitney’s response, dated Oct. 20, said: “Our office will proceed with the pilot. We will hope for the best and keep our eyes open to ensure that should it become apparent that The Sagamore is adversely affected we will take appropriate action.”

How free distribution of The Star could drain advertising revenue from student newspapers is a complicated matter. Equally murky is how The Star solicits money from businesses to help pay for the program.

For instance, representatives from The Star say the newspaper will charge IUPUI an “educational” rate of 15 cents per copy. In return, IUPUI will pay The Star with grant monies received from Newspapers in Education Foundation, a statewide non-profit organization.

The problem is that, in many cases, The Star solicited corporate sponsors to give that money to the foundation.

On the surface, the deal sounds too tempting for campus administrators to refuse. Offering newspapers free to students encourages them to read more – few educators would argue with that.

Educators warn, however, that Whitney and other college administrators are unwitting pawns in The Star’s territorial war with medium-sized papers like The Bloomington Herald Times and other competitors. There are complaints that the newspaper’s top-level managers have pushed the program primarily for business gain.

The bottom line is that newspaper advisers at IU, IUPUI and Indiana State University fear this agreement could endanger the financial vitality of student media, some of which rely solely on advertising revenue, not university support, to survive. Giving The Star away free on campus could hurt that advertising base.

Stickier still is that The Star can count the distribution at IUPUI, DePauw University and a dozen others as paid circulation. This tactic, opponents say, is designed to sweeten the newspaper’s appeal among national and local advertisers.

Meanwhile, administrators at IU-Bloomington have not made up their minds about the Star’s proposal or a similar plan pitched by The Bloomington Herald Times.