Crimson White

Issue date: 2/13/04 Section: News

CW/ Lindsay Morrison" SRC="http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper959/thumbs/t_402c8288506c5-36-1.jpg" target=new> CW/ Lindsay Morrison [Click to enlarge]

If you've just picked up the The Crimson White, chances are you've also got a copy of USA Today, The New York Times or The Tuscaloosa News.

After a one-month test period last semester, the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program started offering free newspapers again this week in residence halls and other high-traffic areas, such as the Ferguson Center and ten Hoor Hall.

The program will continue through the end of the semester, after which the Office of Student Affairs, in conjunction with the SGA and the Office of Residential Life, will evaluate implementing a full-time program in the fall. This semester's program will cost about $35,000 and is being paid for by extra funds from the SGA, the Residence Hall Association and Res Life.

If the program, which is also in place at about 280 other college campuses, continues, USA Today and UA officials seem to be eyeing student fee increases to fund it. Molly Lawrence, assistant vice president for student affairs, said those discussions have not begun yet.

Barbara Hall, the USA Today representative who coordinated the UA program, said USA Today is trying to create a "learning environment on the University campus through the reading of newspapers."

But while papers are free to students and provided at discount to the school, Office of Student Media officials question the motive of the program and are concerned about the damaging effects of the program on campus newspapers at other schools.

"USA Today is not coming here just to increase newspaper readership among college students," said Paul Isom, director of the OSM, the division of Student Affairs that oversees production of The Crimson White. "The real guiding factor in the program is paid circulation."

If newspapers, even heavily discounted, are paid for, then the news organization can report a paid circulation increase, which leads to higher advertising rates, said Joel Mask, OSM associate director for sales and marketing.

Advertising professor Joe Phelps said the basic difference between paid and free circulation is that if papers are paid for, the advertiser knows the reader values the publication's content.

The program also allows USA Today and other papers direct access to the college market, which is highly sought after by some advertisers.

"[USA Today] would be crazy not to do that," Mask said. "I would if it were me."

Phelps said newspaper readership is down among college students, and newspapers across the country are trying to appeal to that demographic.

"If they can boost their readership in that market, then they are certainly going to look more attractive to some advertisers," Phelps said.

"If they're only interested in increasing student readership, why doesn't [USA Today] just give away the papers for free?" Isom asked.

Asked that question, Hall said she did not know, except that newspapers cost money to produce and distribute. She said, however, that USA Today is more for businessmen and that the paper "is not going after the college market anytime in the near future."

Penn State newspaper hurt by program

Hall said USA Today's research shows the readership program has increased the readership of campus newspapers, not hurt the publications.

Tell that to Gerry Hamilton, general manager of The Daily Collegian at Pennsylvania State University, and you'll get a different story.

In 1997 Penn State became the first major university in the nation to have the readership program.

Hamilton said the program's presence there has had a negative effect on both the paper's circulation and budget. He said the placement of the local Centre Daily Times, backed by the Knight-Ridder newspaper corporation, on campus caused major circulation problems for The Collegian, which led to budget losses and more expenses for new efforts to increase circulation.

"We are now in our third year of operating at a loss, which I can largely attribute to fighting a circulation war since the readership program started on this campus," he said.

Until this year, The Collegian has avoided competing for advertisers with the local paper, but that changed when The Centre Daily Times introduced Blue, a new publication aimed directly at the Penn State campus.

Blue is directly cutting into The Collegian's ad revenue, Hamilton said.

"We've had advertisers tell us they were cutting back directly," he said.

Hamilton said asking the student advertising staff to compete with corporate ad professionals would be like asking the Penn State football team to play in the NFL.

Hamilton said initially the Penn State administration, led by President Graham Spanier, wanted the program on campus and disregarded the campus paper's concerns. Hamilton said he now does not think Penn State officials want Blue on campus, but they are caught in a trap, since striking the local paper from the readership bins might cause a firestorm of bad publicity.

Hamilton said the only way to keep the local paper from going after the ad revenue of the campus paper is not to include the local paper in the readership program.

"This situation could occur on any college campus where this program exists," he said.

Tuscaloosa News denies wanting ad competition with CW

Tuscaloosa News operations manager Paul Hass vehemently denied any attempt by the newspaper, owned by The New York Times Co., to compete with The CW for advertisers.

"That has not been and will never be an issue," he said. "We're partners with The CW. This is not an adversarial relationship at all."

The CW pays The Tuscaloosa News $247,000 per year to print and distribute the student-run paper.

Hass said The Tuscaloosa News is a paper for the entire west Alabama community, and the UA campus is just one of the many areas it reaches. He said The News does not have any plans to target campus readers more so than anyone else.

"We just want to maintain the positive relationship we've had with UA and The CW," he said. "There's no advertising agenda here at all."

Director concerned about fees

Isom said he has two main concerns: that the presence of The Tuscaloosa News on campus will enable the paper to undercut CW ad rates for the same market and that student fee money might be used to fund the readership program in the future.

"The T-News could tell their advertisers, 'Why advertise in The CW when we reach the same students and the community cheaper?'" Isom said.

Isom also said the possibility of increasing student fees to pay for the program in the future is troubling, because the University would be funding competition to its own student-run paper with student money.

"Why would student fees pay for a professional newspaper, which students cannot participate in, when there's already a paper run by students for students?" he said.

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