Tough Times for Student Newspapers

Student newspapers often mimic professional newspapers: student journalists try to write and report like the pros, and for students the college newspaper is their community newspaper.

However, more and more student newspapers are also imitating their professional counterparts in a negative way: they are struggling to keep from going broke.

This NPR story looks at the efforts being made to protect the student newspaper at the University of Illinois.

Discussion Questions...

•What is the role of a student newspaper? What should it do?
•What types of events should an educated citizen know about?
•What can a student newspaper do online that it can't do on paper?