College newspapers losing fight against digital

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - For years newspapers have been fighting the digital shift and now college publications are feeling the pinch.

College newspapers tend to be the training ground for budding journalists but a new report shows more college publications are considering taking the plunge into the online world due to of a lack of revenue.

USA Today is reporting that the University of Connecticut's 116-year-old student paper could see its demise before 2014.

The University of Illinois and the University of California are also facing the same budget woes.

However, that's not the case for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian , which has been publishing a daily newspaper since 1967.  "We actually get more traffic on a daily basis from our newspaper than we actually do the web, which receives about three thousand views a day we print a circulation of 11,000," said Editor in Chief Alyssa Creamer at the UMass Campus Center newsroom Tuesday afternoon. 

Business consultant Matthew Zolnierz told 22News, “Local businesses or national companies, sometimes they perceive that social networking, online advertisements might be a better option.  So, there has definitely been a decline because sometimes it can be more affordable, but still we have very loyal customers."

They are so loyal, Creamer says Thursday night's newspaper generated $9,000 in ad revenue; and on their worst day only half of those 11,000 publications are picked off a newsstand at the flagship campus.  But they do find ways to cut costs as only a handful of the 200-student staff is paid and their yearly budget is $250,000.