A recent deal to address the financial struggles of Indiana University’s oldest student newspaper will ensure the existing structure and editorial independence will remain intact for at least three years. During that time, the Indiana Daily Student, the IU Media School and IU Bloomington provost’s office plan to devise a long-term solution.
The stopgap measure allows the Indiana Daily Student to operate at a deficit for three years, beginning in the 2021-22 fiscal year. The Media School will cover any remaining deficit after that time. There will be no immediate changes to the professional staff structure, according to an announcement on the Media School’s website.
Those associated with the student newspaper expressed a sense of relief while also acknowledging the problem that necessitated the recent deal still exists.
“It provides clarity and a path forward in the short term,” said Jim Rodenbush, director of student media at IU Bloomington. “The IDS has a short-term issue and the IDS has a long-term issue. You can’t solve one without solving other. Now, we have one thing down.”
The student newspaper’s financial struggles began years ago, as advertisers increasingly turned away from traditional media and toward websites such as Craigslist, Facebook and Google. While IU owns the student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student is considered a Media School auxiliary. This separation is something students lobbied for in the late 1960s to ensure greater editorial independence and limit university control of content.
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