Will ISU students read this story? Sources say no

The Terre Haute Tribune Star recently raised its newsstand price from 50 cents to 75 cents, following in the footsteps of other papers facing challenges in an ever-changing industry.

Do students mind fishing out an extra quarter for the morning paper? Or do they even read it at all?

Rachel McClelland, assistant instructor of journalism and communication, has first-hand evidence that students rarely read newspapers. And if they do, she said, it's typically the online version of one. Going to the Internet is what people are accustomed to for gathering information.

This becomes an issue when news quiz time rolls around, she said, and communication students are expected to prove their comprehension of recent newspaper content.

"I want students to read news if they're going to be writing news," said McClelland, a former newspaper reporter who also serves as assistant director of ISU Communications and Marketing.

"You wouldn't expect a student to learn algebra if they don't see it and practice it," she said. "And it's the same way with news."

Max Jones, the Tribune Star's editor, referred questions about the price hike to B.J. Riley, the paper's publisher. Riley wasn't immediately available for comment. But Jones said that newspapers have tried to make their print editions appealing to younger audiences,  and it hasn't worked.

"Newspapers aren't relevant to young people," Jones said, adding that attempting to reverse the trend came at the risk of alienating older readers.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism's 2009 study of the news media reflects Jones' assessment. Readers between the ages of 18 and 34 continued to have the lowest newspaper readership level of all age groups, according to the data. Readership in all age groups declined between 2007 and 2008, continuing long-time trends, but only 31 percent of readers aged 18 to 24 said they had read a newspaper the previous day.

William Warfel, professor of insurance and risk management in the Donald W. Scott College of Business, said he has noticed that students in his health insurance class do not read newspapers.  He said it frustrates him greatly, especially since the subject matter relates to such a hot-button national issue.

"Largely, they're just confining themselves to their own world," Warfel said, as he read a copy of USA Today in the HMSU.

When asked if they read newspapers and why, several students said they did not. The reasons ranged from a lack of time to the convenience of the Internet.

McClelland said those kinds of attitudes do not bode well for future generations.

As soon as 40 years from now, in fact, she sees a day in which print newspapers do not exist.