The Decline of College Newspapers
Shrug - I&#x27;ve seen the other side of this.<p>The key point to remember is that college newspapers are generally not independent. It even mentions it in the article. Campus newspapers are funded by the college. It&#x27;s also college staff who serve as the mentors&#x2F;oversight, the college provides the space, offices, printing facilities, and equipment. The newspaper may use the college name, motto, crest, or other identifying information. Students may even earn course credit, so there is overhead with academic reports, metrics, and associated staff.<p>When campus newspapers are pressured by the college, it&#x27;s not a first amendment issue. Just like HN has the legal right to moderate it&#x27;s forum, so does the administration have the right to moderate a campus newspaper.<p>None of this matters if they are reporting on what&#x27;s for for lunch, but what about when the paper starts to report on more sensitive issues? Topics like sexual assault, criminal activity, HR actions, etc. all carry significant liability and risk. Are they newsworthy, maybe, but even large institutional papers like the Washington Post or the New York Times makes mistakes on what or how something is reported. And, when one of those big institutional papers does get something wrong, they can be sued. Bad&#x2F;irresponsible reporting has serious consequences both for the institution and the individuals involved.<p>Colleges treat campus papers as a learning opportunity. That said, If you screw up a coding assignment, it&#x27;s a learning moment that doesn&#x27;t really have any external impact. Journalism by definition has an external impact, and of course a college is going to be more risk adverse.<p>Im all for a robust and well executed campus newspaper, but if they want to be independent, they should be run as independent institutions with their own funding and resources.<p>I know it rubbed the student the wrong way, but ... welcome to the real world. No one is stopping the reporting of news. Anyone can fire up a blog, website or a podcast.  Surprise, people don&#x27;t like paying for things that make them look bad, or are potentially risky endeavors with little upside.