Starving for information

Loss of College Readership Program will deprive USD students of crucial information

Eric Boose / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

Editor’s note: This editorial is an updated re-publishing of an editorial originally published in The USD Vista on Mar. 21, 2019 titled “The importance of being informed.” I have updated the piece to reflect the current situation and further develop my argument, but my sentiment remains the same.

There is something special about a newspaper. In an increasingly digital world, nothing delivers the news in the way a physical newspaper does. On our computers and cell phones, we can choose the stories we read, and we can tailor the news we receive to fit our individualized interests. Convenient as that may be, it is not how the news was meant to be consumed. Journalists are not waiters in a restaurant, serving you the stories you want, just the way you would like them prepared. Our job as journalists has always been to report the news and to report all of it. 

Where our computers and phones allow us to pick and choose what to read, a newspaper directs us to the most important stories, issues that impact our state, our country, and our world — issues that will impact our future. As college students, we have reached an age where we can no longer remain blissfully ignorant. We are the generation that will have to solve problems that exist today. In that pursuit, there is no power like knowledge.

In this country’s infancy, Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is key to any democracy. As such, the First Amendment guarantees a free press in this country. However, what good is a free press if people do not have easy access to it? There is no doubt that journalism is under threat in the U.S. As more people turn away from print media in favor of their cell phones, small newspapers have to downsize or shut down entirely. At the University of San Diego, our Associated Student Government (ASG), having already turned their backs on print media, has now chosen to turn their backs on the news as a whole. 

Two years ago, USD students had access to a wealth of journalism, free of cost beyond the student activity fees students pay. Starting Nov. 8, The USD Vista will be the only newspaper available to USD students for free, whether in print or online for the first time since at least 1999. Gone are the days when Toreros not only had free online subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, but could also pick up a free copy of The New York Times, USA Today, or The San Diego Union-Tribune. In the summer of 2018, with students and ASG senators away from campus, the ASG executive team — composed of the President, Vice President, Speaker of the Senate, Finance Chair, and Public Relations Chair — decided to stop paying for physical newspapers on campus. On Oct. 17, 2019, the ASG executive team announced plans to completely defund what remained of the College Readership Program — online subscriptions to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. 

No matter how many students take the time to pick up a paper and read it, the readership program is a crucial resource for students. Journalism, including the papers and subscriptions formerly available to students serve two major functions for American citizens. First, it helps voters make informed decisions. Accurate and in-depth reporting makes it possible for voters to choose a candidate who they truly believe will best represent and protect their interests. Even as college students, we are voters. We have to make important choices, not just about who we vote for, and we have a right to have the information we need to make the best choices possible, just like everyone else. As much as The USD Vista, the only remaining free news publication on campus, endeavors to help inform students in some of those decisions, we can only do so much. We simply do not have the resources that The New York Times, or even The San Diego Union-Tribune have. 

Unlike those professional papers, we are hyper-local. The USD Vista serves the campus community at USD. To do this, we focus almost exclusively on USD itself. We do not have a White House correspondent, or even a Washington correspondent. Even on our best days, we cannot provide the breadth of information that The New York Times or The San Diego Union-Tribune can. By removing physical papers in 2018 and ending digital subscriptions this year, ASG is actively hindering students’ ability to make informed decisions. 

Second, newspapers help frame the news by emphasizing the most important stories. By limiting free news on campus to The USD Vista, ASG does students another disservice. Rarely is there only one way to effectively report the news. Rarely does one journalist provide a perfect story. Rarely can opinions be fully informed by only one source. When students had access to The USD Vista, The San Diego Union-Tribune, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, students had access to five journalistic approaches, five ways of reporting the news, five newsrooms deciding what stories are most important to the public. Now, only one, student-run, perspective on the news sits on those same stands around campus. The USD Vista’s journalistic perspective, then, will always focus on this campus community. We will prioritize stories that affect USD students over some national stories. In fact, our front page story has not once been a national story without a USD connection — even when the impeachment inquiry into President Trump was announced. 

If students want to read journalistic perspectives that prioritize national stories, they will have to go to professional journalism outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Now, to access those publications they will have to pay for it out of pocket — a cost which may be enough for students to choose not to access that journalism.

As college students in our late teens and early twenties, there has not been a time in our life when journalism has been more important. Helping voters make the most educated decision possible is part of journalists’ duty to seek truth and report it to the public, as is holding those in positions of power accountable. The president of the U.S. is facing an impeachment inquiry, and the 2020 presidential election is right around the corner, with primary elections beginning in February. Never in our lives have we needed access to good, credible journalism more. 

Essentially, the access to the newspapers which used to be free for students was stolen by ASG, regardless of students’ wishes. In a similar vein, there is no student mandate crying out for ASG to cancel free subscriptions to The New York Times. That is not representative government.

Free access to high-caliber professional journalism is crucial for college students. At the very least, that access provides a free resource for information students will use in their classes or in their research. However, it goes beyond that. We are at a time in our nation’s history where the country is arguably more polarized than during the Civil War. The way to replace partisan shouting matches with productive discussions is for everyone involved to be informed. The way to keep everyone informed is to provide them with easy access to the news, ideally from more than one source. 

When students had subscriptions to both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, they had access to highly-renowned journalism from two sides of the aisle — The New York Times leaning moderately left, and The Wall Street Journal leaning moderately right. Now, students stand to lose that access entirely, having already had it whittled down to just one side of the aisle. If that access vanishes, it leaves a void of information, one which students may fill with information from more polarizing sources. At the very least, student subscriptions to The New York Times must be saved, and student subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal ought to be reinstated.

However, simply reinstating free online subscriptions is the bare minimum. By returning newspapers to stands around campus, the breadth of information available to students will be restored to its former strength. As Jefferson said, information is required for the survival of a democracy. The 2020 presidential campaign is already well underway, and it has the potential to be one of the most important presidential elections in the history of American democracy. That election will likely be the first time that many USD students cast a ballot. Those first-time voters and all members of the USD campus community deserve the opportunity to gather as much information about candidates with as little difficulty as possible in order to cast a vote that truly represents their interests. 

There is something about a newspaper. Newspapers strive to discover the truth and reveal it to the public. Newspapers help frame the discussion around issues that impact our world every day. Newspapers present informed opinions and ask their readers to think about complex societal issues. Newspapers create the well-informed electorate Jefferson called the key to a democracy. Newspapers help us know, and as The Washington Post puts it, “Knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.” The College Readership Program must be restored to campus at its full capacity, print newspapers and all.