Campus news subscriptions seen as vital — or a waste

At a time of significant change across the media landscape, student leaders at Iowa's public universities are reassessing the news resources they provide students - including at Iowa State University, where the campus recently paid for full online access to the New York Times.

ISU Student Government last fall voted to spend nearly $40,000 on an academic subscription to the Times, providing any person with an ISU email address online access for a year. That purchase has drawn criticism from the ISU College Republicans, who call it a 'waste.”

The University of Iowa also has a collegiate readership program that includes student, faculty and staff access to two print newspapers and the New York Times website, although UI student leaders dialed down some aspects of the student news program last semester.

The University of Northern Iowa's student news program includes print newspapers only and doesn't include online access to the Times.

'We are still figuring out logistics for the future of the program and what it might look like,” said UNI Student Government President Hunter Flesch.

ISU Student Body President Cole Staudt said his campus dropped its subscriptions to print newspapers a couple years ago, and he and his colleagues began contemplating an online New York Times subscription after a representative from the publication contacted him last fall.

After a 'healthy debate,” Staudt said, Student Government agreed to pay $39,990 for a year's subscription, which the leaders plan to review at the end of the agreement.

The money came from a student government 'special projects account” made up of student fees that were allocated for others purposes but were unspent.

Through last Monday, 1,294 users had registered to access the Times through the ISU academic pass, according to Staudt. Student Government is planning more marketing, he said.

Although Staudt said he's received positive feedback, ISU College Republicans issued a statement criticizing the deal and urging students to 'speak their thoughts on the New York Times subscription.”

'It's more the principle of wasted money in the school system,” said Michael Fredrickson, a sophomore and College Republicans president. 'Most students aren't going to use that resource.”

Based on an informal Twitter survey done before the student government decision, College Republican leaders said about 60 percent of respondents didn't want their fees used for a Times subscription.

'A major complaint of college-aged students today is that higher education is expensive,” according to the statement. 'Passing unnecessary measures such as this continues to raise the cost for students.”

In addition to cost, Staudt said, discussion on the topic among student leaders included arguments for journalistic integrity - as awareness of 'fake news” has surged in the past year.

'A few people brought that piece up and said it's important that we support real journalism and support organizations that hire journalists who have gone to school to learn how to ethically and accurately report the news,” he said. 'Because nowadays, anyone with a keyboard can go online, create a blog, and people sometimes read those things and think they're actually factual.”

Fredrickson said his group's pushback isn't politically motivated - despite President Donald Trump's criticism of the 'mainstream media,” including the Times. With an influx of 'fake news,” Fredrickson said, he agrees dependable media outlets are paramount.

But, he said, 'I believe that there are plenty of reputable news sources out there, both on the internet and not on the internet, that with a little bit of research - especially a college student - should be able to figure out what is a quality news source,” he said.

Staudt has said one goal of the Times subscription is to offer an academic resource, not only to students but to instructors and faculty members. To that, Fredrickson said, specific teachers could charge specific fees.

'I think the student government could have done a better job in negotiating,” Fredrickson said, pitching the idea of an opt-in option for students or faculty. 'But we were not given the choice - whether we wanted the subscription or not. So a lot of people are going to go without using it.”

The UI also offers its students some form of New York Times subscription through its collegiate readership program. In addition to two print publications available at 10 locations across campus, the program lets anyone with a UI email account access the Times online for 24 hours at a time.

Users can log back on if they're bumped off, meaning they essentially have unlimited use, according to UI Student Government President Rachel Zuckerman.

Last semester, Zuckerman said, the UI readership program, which has been in place for years, was dialed down from five print publications in 24 locations to the two newspapers in 10.

Although new program costs aren't yet available, Zuckerman said, she expects the changes will significantly decrease the $65,000 spent on the program last year. But, according to Zuckerman, maintaining some form of media resource is crucial.

'Just having paper news readily available to students as they're eating lunch, for example, in Burge, I think it creates a culture of inquiry and contributes to an academic environment where students do feel like they should and have the ability to stay engaged in what's going on in the world around them,” she said. 'But we also try to be very conscious about providing access to news sources that are credible and legitimate.”

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