Daily Student needs support

These past few years have been a blunt lesson in the importance of local journalism.

You likely understand that sentiment if you subscribe to this publication.

It was easy to miss in the midst of the chaos of the past week, but a cry for help came from one of Indiana’s premier student-media publications.

In a solemn letter Jan. 7 from the editors of the Indiana Daily Student — Indiana University’s editorially independent student-run weekly newspaper — it was revealed that, at its current pace, the newspaper will run out of money in May.

The letter, which you can read in full at bit.ly/3pZDPKC, is harrowing and seemingly reveals that the university has failed its students and the community. IU and its alumni — both which have a considerable amount of money — have to step in to guarantee the publication continues with editorial independence.

Not only is the Daily valuable to the City of Bloomington, it also provides a pipeline for Hoosier journalism students to learn valuable lessons on teamwork and reporting and design that they need in order to have any chance of becoming valuable journalists in the professional world.

These aren’t lessons that can be learned in the classroom alone. Past members of student-media, myself included, will tell you that journalism is learned through practice rather than in any classroom.

Without the Daily, we risk losing countless generations of professional journalists. Or, worse yet, being left with journalists who don’t know how to do the job.

Jay County has benefitted from past and current reporters who have served the community with skills they learned at the Daily. The man I consider to be my journalism mentor spent his college days writing recaps of basketball games in between getting yelled at by coach Bob Knight.

Indiana, and subsequently the rest of the country that is filled with past Daily reporters and would benefit from hiring more, cannot afford to lose this newspaper.

It’s become obvious the Daily is in need of change. Per the letter, the newspaper pays over $100,000 a semester out of its primary account to its advisers, even paying for their health insurance coverage.

That’s a tab that needs to be picked up by the university, as it is elsewhere. But that shouldn’t come at the expense of the newspaper losing its ability to freely report on what needs to be covered.

The editors even want the university to help them create a new business model for the Daily, writing, “If the university refuses to recognize how urgently we need its help in creating a new model, and no one else steps in, we don’t know what more we can do to save our newspaper.”

They shouldn’t have to publish a letter to receive the university’s attention and help. They’re students, and they’re just trying to have a platform to learn.

We’ve seen how much this university has put into athletics, its sprawling campus and the arts. Now it’s time for IU to pay up and provide a place for its student journalists to learn (and make a little bit of pocket change while doing it, too).