MIKE CHIEN Mike Eubanks, a second-year
applied mathematics student, picks up a newspaper from the racks
during a study break at the dorms.
By Jamie Hsiung
Daily Bruin Contributor
The next time the conversation steers toward current events,
UCLA students will be ready ““ or so the Newspaper Readership
Program hopes.
Racks of newspapers have been made available, free of charge for
a limited time, to resident hall students since Jan. 14 in hopes
that college students will become more aware of current events.
“Our goal is to try to help students see beyond the
academics, so that they won’t always be in a bubble,”
said Doug Fraser, national education manager of USA Today.
The nationwide program, with more than 160 participating
schools, traditionally combines USA Today with a local and regional
paper ““ the Daily News and the Wall Street Journal are also
available at UCLA. The Los Angeles Times declined to
participate.
After the four-week trial period, the On-Campus Housing Council
will survey 800 students Feb. 8 to determine whether the program
should continue, said OCHC Chair Adam Harmetz. Currently, 300 other
schools nationwide are undergoing the Pilot Program.
So far, things look promising.
“It’s a good idea,” said Calvin Tchiang, a
third-year history student who prefers USA Today. “Students
today don’t usually talk about the news because they have
other stuff to talk about, like classes. This will help.”
Then again, some students are oblivious to the program.
“I didn’t notice the racks of papers at all,”
said Jennifer Thomasian, a second-year biology student living in
Sunset Village. “I had no idea that there were free
newspapers anywhere.”
The program began in 1997 at Penn State University. In a recent
Penn State Pulse survey, 85 percent of the participating students
said they’re satisfied with the program.
“Students tell us they are participating more in the
classroom and that they are more likely to become lifelong
newspaper readers as a result of the program,” said Bill
Mahon, director of public information at Penn State.
While the newspapers are only displayed on racks throughout the
residence halls at UCLA, Penn State students need only swipe their
student ID cards to open the nearly 100 paper-dispensing machines
located all over campus.
The program has also been implemented in UC Riverside, UC San
Diego and Pepperdine; UCLA is the only school remaining on the
pilot program in Southern California, said Joe Werlinich, general
manager of USA Today.
With 1,000 issues of USA Today, 200 of the Wall Street Journal
and 500 of the Daily News easily accessible to students in resident
halls, the program could end up giving the Daily Bruin some
competition.
Though it’s too early to tell, Daily Bruin editor in chief
Timothy Kudo said he is worried about declining readership.
The Daily Bruin used to print more than 20,000 papers daily,
according to Student Media director Arvli Ward, but due to decline
in readership over the years, print circulation has dropped to
16,500.
Nevertheless, Kudo said he sees the positive aspects of having
the readership program at UCLA.
“People will end up getting multiple sources about world
news. But as people have less time, they might miss out on
on-campus news that could be important to them,” he said.
Ward isn’t worried about the competition.
“Most people that read college papers read it because
it’s a college paper ““Â the competitive pressure
will always be there,” he said.
But a permanent Newspaper Readership Program at UCLA will mean
that students will ultimately need to pay for it.
Jack Gibbons, director of residential life, said students might
end up paying an extra fee in their housing bill to pay for the
program.
“It would seem like you’re getting free newspapers,
just like it seems that there’s free cable television
service. The fees would already be included,” Gibbons
said.
Some students say they wouldn’t mind paying the extra fee
““ to a certain extent.
“If the cost turns out to be less than $10 per year,
I’d go with it,” said Miekael Menberu, a first-year
economics student who alternates between reading USA Today and the
Wall Street Journal on most mornings. “But if it’s more
than that, I’d have to think about it.”