IUSTV Executive Director Jack Paley and IUSTV News Director Ashton Hackman contributed to this article
BLOOMINGTON — IU Student Television, along with the Indiana Daily Student and WIUX will begin the process of converging financial operations into one multiplatform organization while maintaining editorial and brand independence, the Media School announced Tuesday.
“Successful media organizations are not afraid to reinvent themselves, and we have big dreams for student media at IU,” said Media School Dean David Tolchinsky. “We are proud of our tradition of excellence in student media. Through innovation, we will amplify the storytelling our students already do so well by reaching audiences where they consume content and generating revenue to support the organizations, enabling them to become the best learning labs they can be.”
The three legacy student media brands will share business operations and professional staff while maintaining distinct platforms and brands.
“We are incredibly excited for the opportunities this convergence will bring to student media as a whole,” said IUSTV Executive Director Jack Paley. “The sharing of Media School resources and faculty should allow for growth within all three organizations that will ultimately create more opportunities for students.”
While the announcement was not expected to be made Tuesday, the student media plan is not a surprise to current IUSTV student leadership.
Past IUSTV, IDS, and WIUX student leaders were among the ad hoc committee made up of students, staff, faculty and alumni, which held several meetings this past spring. The following Media School administrators, professors, and student media leaders were on the board:
- Media School Director of Development Emily Harrison
- Media School Director of Undergraduate Studies Galen Clavio
- Professors Anne Ryder, Tom French, Jim Kelly and Suzannah Comfort
- Then-IDS co-editors-in-chief Salomé Cloteaux and Nic Napier
- Then-IUSTV Executive Director Emma Watson
- Then-WIUX President Natalie Ingalls
Therefore, a plan to address the issues with student media was expected and should not be a surprise.
The committee was formed to solidify a plan that would address the financial burdens each student media organization, particularly the IDS, currently faces.
All three media organizations will become budget-neutral within three years of the plan being implemented, which IUSTV and WIUX currently are. However, based on their structure with the university, both organizations currently have limited revenue-generating capabilities under their structures.
The IDS has faced sharp financial hurdles for years. As noted in a previous IDS article, for the 2023 fiscal year, the IDS’ revenue was $673,304, but the paper operates at a loss of about $300,000 a year.
In July, the Office of the Provost helped relieve about $1 million of debt acquired by the student newspaper, which sat at a negative cash balance of $894,550 at the end of February. Director of IU Student Media, Jim Rodenbush, said staff pay and print made up around 88% of expenses.
Under the new organization, WIUX and IUSTV will restructure as revenue-generating entities. Additionally, both organizations will now receive the same professional staff support as the IDS, which was not available prior to the plan.
Notedly, IUSTV and WIUX members are not paid like their IDS peers. In a meeting Wednesday with student media leaders and associate deans Gerry Lanosga and Galen Clavio, Dean Tolchinsky would not confirm if student pay would be extended to include IUSTV and WIUX members.
Tolchinsky said the ideas and plans are up to the organizations to work out.
With the student media merger, the IDS faces sharp cuts in weekly newspaper production. The paper, which once printed five days a week, has been limited to a weekly paper since 2020.
Under the new plan, starting with the spring semester, the IDS would cease printing weekly, and shift to special editions regularly published during the academic year.
Additionally, the three student media organizations would collaborate on the development of a new student media app and converged newsletter.
“This plan for student media ensures that students are well equipped to be effective, honest and diligent journalists for our local communities, no matter how people consume news content,” said IUSTV News Director Ashton Hackman. “We are excited to work alongside our peers in laying the groundwork for a strong collaborative partnership that protects student media.”
Aside from financial and organizational changes, the action plan will provide funding for multiple graduate student positions to help staff support for the converged student media organization.
Additionally, the action plan will support the development of initiatives to address the safety and mental health of student journalists. A general education course on issues of mental health and the media, and an upper-level course devoted to trauma-informed reporting are two potential ideas that could come from the plan.
