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The Changing Face of College News

By: Phoenix Delray

It had been for decades that college news was delivered to students via the campus newspaper. There have always been many different categories of information that was available in the paper. Things like classified ads, comics, special deals from campus shops and bookstores, student activities that were going on, and anything else that students may have been interested in were all found in the college news. Lately, however, more and more colleges are turning towards the Internet to deliver their news to students and faculty. With so many things being presented in electronic formats these days, the competition from computers is putting a strain on college newspapers across the country.

The increasing competition that college news groups are facing from electronic format news has some newspapers groups on campuses pretty nervous. Not only are they facing more competition online, but they are also facing continuing declines in ad revenues.

In the last decade or so, college newspapers have been opting to not only distribute printed copies of their news, but many have also begun websites as well. The newspapers would have companies design and host the websites, in exchange for an online ad sharing agreement. Of course the college newspapers could design and host their own websites, but many chose to have them hosted by an outside company. Now that College Publisher bought New Digital Group in 2005, college news groups are having a tough time finding any companies that will design and host their sites for free for ad space in exchange.

Not only is finding hosting companies becoming difficult, but mtvU has now introduced Web sites that are customized for individual colleges and targeted to the same students who usually read the college newspaper websites. This network of web sites by mtvU is called Campus Daily Guides, and the fear is that students who usually support the campus papers will eventually turn completely to the website networks for college news and campus happenings instead. The mtvU websites have calendars of events for campus, directories of restaurants, shopping, bars, and other points of interest, as well as features geared specifically to students, like the Rate Your Professor features.

Many of the student newspapers at colleges have been up and running for many years, and some of them are more than 100 years old. The fight for students eyeballs continues between college newspaper sites and the websites that are independent of colleges that offer many similar points of information.

Article Source: http://www.bluearticles.com


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