College Paper Tries to Fight Off Gannett

Gannett -- which owns USA Today among its media properties -- made some headlines about a month ago when it announced it was interested in buying The Collegian, the college newspaper at Colorado State University. Apparently big media has noticed that campus newspapers are well-read by a key demographic that has a great deal of spending power.

The university obviously likes the idea for the amount of money it would generate, but the students, who feel they would no longer be independent, hate it. It's unlikely that Gannett (or any other media company) would want to interfere with student journalism, but it does begin a trip down the slippery slope.

I spent far too much of my time in college in the newspaper office. We were just happy that we had cable in the newsroom. It was an idealistic journalism environment, where you could track down stories and learn to write. Let the students have fun and create interesting, envelope-pushing journalism. That's plenty to do without having to worry about the budget or circulation numbers.