A stack of Indiana Daily Student newspapers published Thursday say the student media organization has "no confidence" in Indiana University's media merger plan.
(Lauren Tucker/WTIU News)
Indiana University’s Media School announced plans to merge its student media organizations, a move met with resistance from some students.
The Indiana Daily Student (IDS) newspaper, IU Student Television (IUSTV) and WIUX Radio will share business operations, while still maintaining editorial independence, IU officials said. The change starts immediately.
The plan for the merger was developed with input from a Student Media Committee, which sent its findings to the Media School Dean David Tolchinsky in April. The committee was tasked with finding potential solutions for funding IU’s student media.
The restructured student media groups will eliminate the weekly IDS print newspaper starting in the spring 2025 semester. Only special print editions will continue.
Student Media Director Jim Rodenbush pointed to the Housing Guide and the Visitors Guide as examples of print publications likely to continue.
Student Media Director Jim Rodenbush has worked with the IDS since 2018, and began to work with IUSTV two years ago. (Lauren Tucker/WTIU News)
The IDS published a story and a letter from the editors following the announcement with a front-page headline that said, “The IDS has NO CONFIDENCE in the Media School’s plan for student media.” The IDS says its weekly print newspaper is profitable and should not have been cut.
IDS co-editor-in-chief Marissa Meador said the weekly newspaper had a $30,000 profit in fiscal year 2024.
The Media School says eliminating the weekly newspaper will free up $65,000 each year. The plan also anticipates $155,000 in new revenue opportunities through advertising. Those moves and an $80,000 salary position moved to the Media School will cover the IDS’s $300,000 yearly deficit, the Media School Dean said.
“I just want to acknowledge that — the pain of getting rid of a weekly edition, I'm acknowledging that," Tolchinsky said. "We have to attack the deficit.”
IU Media School Dean David Tolchinsky (Lauren Turner/WTIU News)
IUSTV and WIUX are already budget neutral. They are funded through the Media School as student organizations. The IDS is an auxiliary organization, which allows students to get paid for their work.
Rodenbush said he felt optimistic about the merger but disheartened by the newspaper cut.
“Having the print product end under my watch is, frankly, a little bit devastating and a little bit of a punch to the gut,” he said. “Because I think that there is something that is being lost here. And I don't think the immediate impact is something that people are going to be able to see, but I do think over time, there's a loss here. To the community, to the people that advertise in it, to the relationships behind it.”
Students sort out next steps
Students in the organizations expressed mixed reactions to the plan.
Ashton Hackman, IUSTV news director, said the merger will benefit his station because it will mean a revenue stream with advertisers.
“I think that this plan helps get us to a point where we can be nationally recognized and known for being a very student media focused environment,” he said.
“We [the student organizations] knew that this is kind of the path that we needed to go toward, but I just wish that communication, in terms of getting us that announcement, would have been …a little bit better, especially for my friends at the IDS,” he said. “I know that if I was in their shoes, and this was the situation that we were in for our organization, I would have been absolutely ticked that this is the way that this was sent out.”
Many students were aware of tentative plans for a merger but were not notified that the announcement would be made Tuesday.
Tolchinsky said the Media School decided to send out the announcement after the IDS obtained a copy of the plan and requested comment from him.
Char Jones, Vice President of Operations at WIUX, said she’s apprehensive about the future of student radio within the new structure.
“We have a 24-hour radio telethon,” she said, “and a lot of our alumni are now a little bit apprehensive to giving us money and donations, because they don't know if that's going to be pooled into all three organizations, if it's going directly to us. We don't know what the state of things are going to be. So it's kind of leaving us in a weird gray area at the moment.”
Meador is exploring ways to preserve the newspaper.
Marissa Meador, IDS Co-Editor in Chief, said the weekly newspaper alone brought $30,000 in profit in fiscal year 2024. (Lauren Tucker/WTIU News)
“We would really love to keep it in the newsstands free for the community,” she said. “So if we can fundraise enough to do that, that would be incredible.”
Sophie Kaelble conducted a portion of the interviews for this story.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Katy Szpak was a member of the Indiana Daily Student during her time as a student at IU.
