MediaShift

NewspaperShift

The Shutdown of UWIRE and the Implications for College Media

by Bryan Murley

Last month, UWIRE.com, an edited college media newswire, mysteriously vanished from the Internet. "UWIRE, a popular service that aggregated articles from student newspapers across the country, promoting student journalism both within higher education and to the outside world, has disappeared," wrote Simmi Aujla for the Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month. Today, visitors to the site receive an error...

• November 18, 2009
• 9 comments

EducationShift

Why Do Some College Newspapers Still Have No Web Presence?

by Bryan Murley

Summer's almost over and college newspapers across the country will be cranking up to full speed soon. Likely, they'll be getting ready for further adventures in online journalism, expanding their online presence while attempting to keep the print product financially successful. But hard as it is to believe, there are still student newspapers around the country that have no online...

• August 11, 2009
• 6 comments

EducationShift

Is University of Missouri's iPod Touch 'Requirement' Fair?

by Bryan Murley

The news out of the Missouri School of Journalism two weeks ago was a little confusing. The school announced it would be requiring all incoming freshmen journalism pre-majors to purchase an iPod Touch or iPhone. At least that was the lede in stories by the Columbia Missourian and The Maneater. But the "requirement" wasn't really a "requirement," if you read...

• May 20, 2009
• 5 comments

Business

College Media Miss Opportunities Covering the Economic Crisis

by Bryan Murley

If you're like me, you know more about economics now than you ever thought you'd want to know. I can describe a Credit Default Swap (CDS), a Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO), a Mortgage Backed Security (MBS), mark-to-market accounting, and the LIBOR index, not to mention the Toxic Asset Relief Program (TARP), U3 and U6, and the difference between a liquidity...

• April 10, 2009
• 6 comments

EducationShift

5 Challenges for Small College Media and How to Overcome Them

by Bryan Murley

When people talk about online innovation in college media, they tend to start big and stay there. And it's true that large circulation college newspapers (and big name journalism programs) have been doing some impressive things online, but the need to innovate extends to smaller journalism programs as well. And for them, the challenges can be daunting. So what are...

• February 18, 2009
• 6 comments

AdvertisingShift

College Newspapers Finally Hit by Economic Downturn

by Bryan Murley

As the newspaper industry has struggled with declining revenue, some analysts predicted that college newspapers would weather the storms of the changing media environment better than their peers in the wider industry. (See also this Chronicle of Higher Education article.) Now the national economy indicates that the future might not be quite so rosy: The widespread economic pains in the...

• January 28, 2009
• 4 comments

EducationShift

College Media Has Come A Long Way Online

by Bryan Murley

With the swift pace of change in the media landscape, it's easy to overlook how far college news media has come in a short time. There has been some great innovation in college media, even as some lag behind. I was prompted to reflect on this last month, after reading Going Digital, an Inside Higher Ed article by Brian Farkas,...

• November 19, 2008
• 22 comments