CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS URGE ACTION IN CUTBACKS TO CAMPUS JOURNALISM PROGRAMS

The over 500 daily and weekly members of the California Newspaper Publishers Association are deeply concerned about the effect of the state's budget crisis on high school, college and university journalism programs and student newspapers. While CNPA understands that, in Gov. Gray Davis' words, "everyone will feel the pain," CNPA strongly believes that in no case should budget challenges result in the killing outright of any journalism program or student newspaper. As school boards, regents, trustees and administrators weigh the many difficult choices that lie ahead, CNPA urges consideration of the following points:

Cost: For their relative cost, journalism programs pay off big. Even for students who do not pursue careers in print, broadcast or online media, the skills they gain will serve them well as they go to other fields. CNPA members and other businesses in the school's sphere of influence will continue to support strong journalism programs.

Jobs: The California printing and publishing industry, which employs a workforce of thousands, requires a diverse and educated population of potential employees. The people who fill these rewarding jobs need the skills learned in journalism programs and by working on student newspapers.

Value: While instruction in English, math and chemistry have value to the students participating in those studies, student newspapers and journalism programs offer value to the entire student body, faculty, administration and community at large. Student newspapers help groups within a school connect with each other, provide a link with the administration and a forum for the exchange of ideas.

Values: Few, if any, educational programs offer a better education in the foundations of American democracy than that found in the publication of a student newspaper. Students get hands-on education on the rights and responsibilities of a free press that are available nowhere else. These lessons cannot be learned by just reading about them, and, like anything else, they cannot be learned without making mistakes or generating discomfort and controversy.

The end product: Journalism programs, whether at the high school, college or university level, make for better learners, better employees and better business leaders. Communications programs are about more than media, more than reporting and writing, more than radio and broadcast and online.

Putting out a newspaper is, itself, a process of learning. Devising concepts, determining what to ask and whom to interview, gathering background, synthesizing facts and diverse viewpoints -- in effect becoming an expert on a topic on deadline -- these talents alone make a campus journalist a valuable prospect for any field.

The presentation of information, in print, online or over the airwaves, is yet another area of talent that should not be cut short. Visual communication, news page and Web design, copyediting, headline-writing, script development and production all are tied closely with the training of a journalist and are all included in a campus communications program.

Journalism offers students the chance to author change. A healthy, dynamic school newspaper is a sign of a healthy, dynamic school, just as a healthy, dynamic community newspaper is the sign of a healthy, dynamic community. Thank you for considering the views of the California newspaper industry.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association is a trade association whose mission is to champion the ideals of a free press in our democratic society and to promote the quality and economic health of California newspapers. The association counts among its members nearly 100 college and university newspapers and 30 high school newspapers.

Officers:

President
Sarah Nichols

Past President
Don Bott

Treasurer
Randy Hamm

State Regional Director
Lynn McDaniel