Student-run newspapers and media across the U.S. are losing necessary funding and being stripped of the resources they need to practice ethical and fair journalism. What the administrators and school organizations behind the bans don’t realize is that they risk silencing the next generation of critical thinkers, storytellers and reporters.
These funding cuts across the country — taking place at universities such as the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the University of Kansas (KU), the University of Southern California (USC) and Indiana University (IU) — are not simply about cutting the student writers’ and editors’ wages and limiting their abilities as journalists. They go as far as seizing student newspapers’ printing schedules and leaving the majority of their staff blind to their own budgets.
Consequently, this reduces journalism students’ production quality without addressing the reasoning or explanation besides the school’s lack of financial resources. As I write this, I’m realizing how lucky we are at the Loyolan to be financially supported by the University yet independently run.
Of course, it’s important to understand the rising costs of higher education. Universities are forced to make difficult decisions about where to allocate their “limited” funds almost every day. Some might argue that while student journalism is valuable, there are other essential services that may outweigh it in a time of financial strain. However, the reality is that universities have to balance the needs of all of their students. Financial cuts to student media cannot be replaced because reducing student access to informative and unbiased journalism is not what higher education should stand for.
“The good thing that student media has is — that commercial media [doesn’t] have to depend on — if the school truly does support the idea of an active student press on campus, they can provide the means to do that,” said Mike Hiestand, the senior legal counsel for Student Press Law Center. “It’s not that expensive to run a student newspaper, but it does take commitment. I think that certainly at this moment, there has never been a more important moment for young people to have their voices heard.”
“The more you cut student media, the more privileged you make student media. [It’s] just going to become more elitist. It’s not going to go away, it’s just going to be people that can afford to dabble in it, much like how you have rich spouses that volunteer in museum boards,” said Michael Koretzky, a former professional journalism advisor for 12 years and a volunteer for Paradigm Press.
The attack on student media ultimately takes away much of the college experience that student journalists deserve as they study the art of reporting or running a newspaper. Student media is essential to ensuring diverse perspectives don’t disappear in our society. In a country like ours — where access to information and platforms for self-expression are increasingly limited and corrupted — student-run media outlets offer a crucial space for young intellectuals to challenge and shape the narratives around them.
Especially with today’s far-right political and economic agenda, student media plays an irreplaceable role in shaping debate. Student-run newspapers’ content not only educates but also encourages their audience to think, form and share opinions. Different perspectives push their readers to think critically rather than remain ignorant and biased.
This past January, USC cut the Daily Trojan staff and senior editors’ wages as well as their ability to print five days a week. The battle between USC Student Life and the Daily Trojan has been going on since December 2024, when the Daily Trojan released a statement regarding their unfamiliarity with their own budget and their worries for the near future regarding their printing and staffing abilities.
“For a long time, talking about our budget [has] been very taboo. Over the summer, we would ask for some transparency but would get an email back [that wasn’t] really responding to what we had to say,” said Stefano Fendrich, the editor-in-chief at the Daily Trojan. “Essentially … it’s been described to us in many different ways to be honest, and they keep rephrasing what it’s called. Originally it was a budget cut of 80,000. Now, they’ve described it as more of a budget deficit of 80,000 … Apparently, we’ve been running short of 80,000 to 100,000 dollars for the past five years and nothing has been done about it.”
“A student paper isn’t supposed to be like a profit. So, I do find it troubling when universities continue to cut things like this because, you know, once one university does it, then another one will see it and say, ‘We might as well do it.’ I do think it’s dangerous in that way,” said Fendrich.
Similarly, other quality student-run newspapers like The University Daily Kansan at KU have been experiencing funding cuts that reach as high as 80%. Despite their efforts to protest and challenge the budget cut decisions, their Financial Student Senate seems to insist on eliminating ethical and informational journalism from their campus.
This past week, the same budgeting cuts began to happen at UCSD’s paper, The Guardian. “I am writing this letter to ask for your signature on our petition to defend The UCSD Guardian’s control over our operations …This year, our long-time financial struggles have reached a breaking point,” wrote Adalia Luo, editor-in-chief of The Guardian, in a statement published on their website. “Being completely self-sustaining is an uphill battle for a collective of full-time college students. We have made increasingly difficult budgetary decisions in our effort to continue operating at the quality we have become known for, including pay cuts and reduced print. Our ability to offer comprehensive pre-professional training and programming to UCSD’s budding student journalists has been almost entirely eliminated,” added Luo.
“Students need to realize — if they’re going to cut student media — they can’t stop you from doing media too. They can only stop your pay, but you can still do it and speak your truth and power,” said Koretzky. “I hope students will take these cuts and realize the truth, that administrators or most of your professors don’t care about your future. They care about their futures. Your tuition and student loans have gone up, but so have administrators’ salaries … So, I’m hoping that there’s a silver line into all of these budget cuts, that student journalists realize that they don’t have to self-edit themselves and self-center themselves and they will be more fearless because they’re also penniless.”
It’s no debate that the news industry is currently in decline. Communication channels across the nation and social media overall aim to trim our diverse perspectives and scrape away our skills to think for ourselves. Today’s commercial media is often used to divide and isolate us. To me, higher education is a witness to this phenomenon of today’s world. Student media and journalism are essential in saving the honest, ethical and intellectual journalism and media landscape.
This editorial was written by Lila Sepici, assistant opinion editor of The Los Angeles Loyolan from Loyola Marymount University. To view the original story, click here.