You’ve Got To Hand It to Gannett – If You’re Looking For The Young Print Reader Then Buying A College/University Newspaper Is A Pretty Smart Idea

Philip M. Stone August 10, 2006

What newspaper does a college student usually read inside and out whenever it is issued – often daily?. The college/university newspaper of course. So someone got very smart at the US’ largest newspaper chain and figured if you can’t attract the young to reading the local Gannett newspaper, then buy the local college newspaper that has the demographics you would kill for.
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And Gannett has done exactly that in Tallahassee, Florida where it owns the Tallahassee Democrat. That paper has announced it has purchased The FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student newspaper of Florida State University.

The purists are beating their chests fearing Gannett is going to interfere with the student journalistic independence of a college newspaper, but if Gannett is smart they will leave well enough alone and let the students get on with it just as before.

For readers outside of the US, it should be explained that US university/college newspapers are really quite professional products, often published daily, usually with students in the major jobs as part of their graduation course or sometimes they are poorly paid. The free newspapers are professionally printed and distributed in boxes all over campus.

(And in the light of full disclosure, this writer takes great pride in stating he was editor of the San Jose, California, Daily Spartan  in 1968, a newspaper then funded by student fees and  advertising. In those days it was usually around eight pages daily, printed via hot type. The journalism department ran it as a class laboratory  and provided all the staff  -- journalists and advertising personnel -- who earned graduation credits, no money!)

Those student newspapers really do have the attention of their constituents, because all the stories and features  are targeted at them, as is the advertising.

And we’re not just talking about local hamburger joints or the campus bookstore pushing used books.  Today’s college newspaper sees ads from the likes of the major automobile companies, Microsoft, electronics producers, and even Wal-Mart which usually has an aversion to newspaper advertising.

Student newspapers and the local newspaper are often competitive when it comes to campus stories. In San Jose during this author’s editorship of the campus newspaper,  the San Jose Mercury and News had a reporter assigned to the campus. Even then the Ridder newspapers (it was before Knight Ridder) understood that to capture the college crowd you needed to cover their habitat. If they had a story the Daily Spartan didn’t have the editor’s conference that day was not a joyful experience!  Naturally, the day after graduating this author became a turncoat and joined the San Jose News.

That competitive editorial spirit was still true in Tallahassee today – the newspapers were competing for that college audience. But if Gannett is smart while it may use the college newspaper for self-promotion it had better not mess around too much with the campus newspaper or the readership will understand and rebel. Gannett should be in this deal for the money, and if, at the same time, it improves the journalistic product then so much the better.

Patrick Dorsey, Democrat president and publisher,  seems to understand that fine line. “The FSView & Florida Flambeau has always been and will remain a student-run newspaper, independent of the day-to-day  Tallahassee Democrat  news operations,” he said.

This purchase most likely will be closely watched by US newspapers to see exactly what Gannett does get out of it. On the face of it it’s a neat way of getting to the college students that advertisers desire. But there are not that many college newspapers out there for sale.

In Tallahassee the newspaper was privately owned which is a rarity – usually the university has its fingers in there somewhere.  It was published twice a week during the academic year with circulation around 25,000 – less in the summer when it publishes once a week.

The University of Florida Alligator newspaper is also independently owned and its take on the sale of the Florida State newspaper is telling. “As an independent paper – staying afloat on our own since 1973 – we’ve been watching events closely. We’ve always believed independence from a university to be the hallmark of a great student newspaper.

“Autonomy has its price. For us, it has meant underpaying our staff, enduring leaky roofs, and tolerating slightly defective computers. But our sufferings  have bought us the ability to freely comment on the university – the benefits of which cannot be overstated. Now we find that independence could leave us open to attack from an entirely different angle. Recent events are worrisome, to say the least.”

Be that as it may, Gannett has started the ball rolling. If you can’t get the young reader attracted to your newspaper then go buy the newspaper they do read – actually a rather similar strategy  to the New York Times Company buying its 49% stake in the Boston Metro. If Gannett does this right and doesn’t offend its new staff and readership, then other such buys could surely follow.

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Gannett Buys Its Second Florida College Newspaper - February 14, 2007

Gannett has announced it is buying the Central Florida Future, the student newspaper at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. The newspaper was privately owned, for profit, and had a circulation of 15,000 for its thrice-weekly distribution.

The buy would indicate that Gannett is happy with results thus far with its first purchase of a student newspaper, the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run newspaper at the University of Florida ion Tallahassee that it bought in August, 2006.

Student newspapers have become increasingly under the spotlight because they have a pretty much captive audience of the demographics newspapers would kill to have – the under 24s. The young may be deserting print for the Internet but student newspapers have a particular news niche that no one else fills within the world of a university student and those newspapers continue to be an advertiser’s dream readership.