In early 2018, the student-run newspaper The Daily Campus, which covers Southern Methodist University, announced it has to re-affiliate with its university. The Daily Campus is merely the most recent student-run newspaper to have to go back to its university due to lack of funding.
In light of this, student-run media organizations need to start calling attention to the challenges we face, as many of us fight to maintain financial independence and an increasing number of us now face concerns of editorial independence under university administrations.
On April 25 each year, we call on student-run news organizations to publish editorials highlighting the need for student media and the importance of supporting it. As part of this, we started a social media campaign to #SaveStudentNewsrooms as part of (the unofficial) Support Student Journalism Day. We hope you flood Facebook and Twitter with editorials, threads of your best work of this year, current student and alumni testimonials and links to your donate button.
For alumni of student-run newsrooms, we encourage you to share what being part of student-run journalism meant to you and reach out to your former student newsroom to make sure they’re involved. If able, consider donating to your old newspaper (or get your well-off accounting friends to do so). Encourage others to as well, and share the posts from your former student publication.
This was spearheaded by student editors at The Independent Florida Alligator in 2018. As we grow, we want to hear from you. What else do you want to see/hear on this day? What ideas do you have? Post in the discussion below. And thanks for the support.
Current Leaders:
Lauren Fisher
Hannah Lee
Sam Ogozalek
Founders:
Melissa Gomez
Caitlin Ostroff
Jimena Tavel
