By John Hanson and John Andringa
March 2, 2011, 2011
Bemidji, MN — The Northern Student has been reporting the campus news of Bemidji State University since 1926. In the current, failing economy, the newspaper faced a drastic transformation. The newspaper ran out of funds for the rest of the academic year. According to the Northern Student editor, Elisa Boettcher, the former Northern Student advisor submitted an insufficient budget to SAFAC. After the staff realized the mistake, they resubmitted a new budget, but it was submitted late. Due to budget policy, SAFAC had to cut the new budget proposal in half. In an attempt to continue the Northern Student publication, the newspaper staff has considered moving to an online-only format, working as volunteers, and has been actively searching for a Web designer.
The new Northern Student’s advisor, Mass Communication Prof. Carl Sewall, said the student-run newspaper suffered budget cuts from the SAFAC and didn't have a business manager for a portion of last semester. The newspaper’s budget is only half of last year’s budget and they ran out of funds for printing for this year. Prof. Sewall said another budget problem stems from an advertising revenue deal with The Pioneer that didn’t work out. The Pioneer had a deal with the Northern Student to provide all the advertising and the Northern Student would receive 40% of the revenue. The management of the Northern Student did not think they Pioneer was holding up their end of the deal and decided to part with the Pioneer.
Prof. Sewall said that recently the newspaper received new emergency funds from the SAFAC and hopes to start printing the newspaper again as soon as next week. Currently the newspaper staff is considering how often to print the newspaper and depends on the amount of advertising revenue generated. The online edition will be updated more often.
In a rollercoaster of budget troubles, the Northern Student staff has had a rollercoaster of emotions themselves. “The mood of the newspaper staff varies,” said staff writer Kim Powell. “There are some people, like myself, who actually want to go into some form of journalism. Then there are people doing it because it's a job and they just happen to like to write.”
She continued to say the Northern Student tries hard to get as many readers as possible. “Our whole layout has improved and it looks a lot more professional than it used to,” She said. “The Northern Student improves in at least one thing every issue, whether it's picture quality, layout, or writing.”
Despite the recent budget problems, the newspaper is hiring new staff members. Anyone interested is encouraged to apply at the Northern Student office in the Upper Hobson Union.
1.
 |
| A Northern Student newspaper rack empty because it’s temporarily not in print. Photo by John Hanson |
2. The office of the Northern Student empty. Photo by John Hanson
No comments:
Post a Comment