I’m often asked by newspaper professionals how I feel about entering the industry when it’s in such a rocky state. How do I feel?
Uncertain. Anxious. Terrified.
I’ve heard horror stories from friends who’ve been to staff meetings where dozens of layoffs were announced. Luckily, I’ve never sat in on anything that drastic at my internship – but then again, I don’t need to go out into the “real world” to see the effect a depression can have on a newsroom.
The Daily Collegian, the independent college paper at Penn State University, has not been immune to the financial downturn the rest of the industry has been experiencing. We rely on advertising revenue for our budget, and lately that revenue has been shrinking.
Where do we make cuts? We trim from the same places as “real” newspapers. Newsprint’s down: Last spring we survived on 14 or 16 pages daily, compared with about 18 or 20 the year before. We’ve tried to limit our already limited travel budget. And, of course, we’ve had the cuts that are causing a lot of grief nationwide: people.
Each semester, the “upper-level” students at the Collegian get a “grant check,” or a small stipend to reward us for our hard work. Some of us spend up to 40 hours a week or more in the newsroom, making it impossible to get the part-time or work-study job that most other college students rely on to pay tuition and rent. Naturally, these grant checks, however small they may be, are a necessity to most editors and a few reporters. How else will we afford those Ramen noodles?
I wouldn’t equate grant-check cuts with layoffs, though; most staffers at the Collegian are shuffled to different positions every semester, so no one’s been “fired.” But when the big guy upstairs orders $10,000 in this semester’s grant checks be cut, eight or 12 positions are going to get the ax.
We’ve lost the special sections editor and the sports projects editor. Fewer reporters are going to get one of the coveted checks, and only a select few senior reporters got one before anyway.
Design’s also been taking cuts. A year ago we lost the graphics editor, this semester we’re losing the presentation editor, and the remaining page designers are taking a 50 percent cut in their grant checks.
What do these cuts mean? More responsibility for everyone else, students who feel like their plates are already packed with a full-time course load and a position that eats up the rest of their time. Some students have had to leave their positions at the Collegian to make ends meet; in fact, one of my designers told me so last week.
On one hand, these problems are disheartening at best. But on the other hand, I don’t think I’ll be as shell-shocked if I ever sit in on one of those dreaded meetings in the corporate news world.
– Kristen Huth
No Comments Yet
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
