The Daily Cal: Berkeley's student paper at a tipping point

I get that it's got a very long tradition, but it's a newspaper, and those aren't doing well I hear. Back to the drawing board I guess.

FingeroftheBear;733969 said:

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I know it's an indie org and students get more out of running it but perhaps the J-school should take it over and make it a modern media enterprise (web, print, video, social media).

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I don't think that's doable. J-schoolers wouldn't have the time commitment.

Believe me, it takes an insane amount of time to work at the paper, even if you're a lowly reporter.

A typical story will take up 4-8 hours of the day.

Editors work 50-60 hours a week, from Sunday morning through Friday evening.

J-schoolers are there, chiefly, to learn, and that means a lot of class time.

The Daily Cal is the antithesis of going to class.

When I was a Daily Cal editor, I worked with a lot of j-schoolers and they were just absolutely harrible. Well, not all of them. But they just weren't used to working at a breakneck pace, and they weren't willing to commit to the amount of time it takes.

Also, you really don't want professors being involved because they work for the university.

I remember that the last j-school dean, before he was j-school dean, tried to manipulate the way we covered a story. I wouldn't have it.

The j-school is adept at running a j-school, not running a daily operation.


As an example, I'll point ot Oakland North (http://oaklandnorth.net/) a J-school project covering North Oakland. They've had some interesting things, but the site lacks depth and it isn't updating that often. You can tell they don't have time to make a serious commitment.

I think they ahould cut back on print issues. maybe have weekly print instead of daily? I know that is totally opposite of the namesake but I feel like it will save a ton of money on printing costs.

FingeroftheBear;733984 said:

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Yeah okay, I guess if it's not j-school-able then just let it die like all print journalism...or create a new model or way. I think that's my point. Perhaps there should be a competition to create a new model.

Any way, what a shame. The Daily Cal use to be a big part of life at Cal. Finding one in a lecture hall or BART or where ever was always a welcome distraction.

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Adrian The Cal Bear;733991 said:

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I think they ahould cut back on print issues. maybe have weekly print instead of daily? I know that is totally opposite of the namesake but I feel like it will save a ton of money on printing costs.

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Maybe the Daily Cal should go online-only. Problem is, as the article states, that the print ads are lucrative while online ads barely pay anything. (I think it's like 10% of print ads.)

The Daily Cal cut back to 4 days a week publication several years ago (they don't publish Wednesdays).

From 1993 to 1995, the Daily Cal was also in financial trouble, and cut back to 2 weeks of publication (Tuesdays and Fridays).

At the time, the Daily Cal was located near Dwight and Shattuck.

I joined the Daily Cal in fall 1996, and the senior editors who had survived those dark days, were like war vets. They had been through so much.

In contrast, by the time I left the Daily Cal we were in the middle of the internet boom and we annoyingly had way too much advertising.

Annoying because when you have too much advertising, an 8 to 12-page paper becomes a 20 to 24 page paper. And you have to fill out all that extra space with articles. It was daunting to keep up.

teh concert to fund the daily Cal














:Monty:tedford

I blame Jack Wang.

It's Tosh's fault

Maybe Jack Clark has some funds to spare from the rugby budget?

maybe jack wang shouldn't insult students if he wants them to pay for keeping the daily cal running.

Not enough ad revenue.

Not enough ad revenue because readership/circulatoin sucks.

Circulation sucks because I can read through an entire issue in 3 minutes.

I can read through an entire issue in 3 minutes because there are 3 articles per issue.

It was a stupid decision in 1971 to go completely independent and sever financial ties to the university. Now, they're paying the price. Bad decisions do have consequences.

I wonder how much they make from online advertising. They really need to push on that front as print advertising will only head downwards.

Quote:

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And Stephanie Baer, a Cal junior who has recently been interning at the San Francisco Chronicle, is preparing to take over the editor-in-chief's reins when Ovadia leaves at the end of this month to begin interning at Politico.com in Washington DC.

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What a perfect name for the editor-in-chief of the Daily Cal.

XTasy;733966 said:

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[same stupid gif]

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what are you, 12?

freshfunk;734058 said:

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I wonder how much they make from online advertising. They really need to push on that front as print advertising will only head downwards.


What a perfect name for the editor-in-chief of the Daily Cal.

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She should name her son Bear and have him keep her maiden name.

Golden One;734055 said:

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It was a stupid decision in 1971 to go completely independent and sever financial ties to the university. Now, they're paying the price. Bad decisions do have consequences.

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It was a good decision. The problem was a lack of management structure and some misguided decisions. For instance, until about 1999 or 2000, the Daily Cal had a labor union. We had a bunch of adults with no affiliation with the university who were making hefty union wages for production work that students could've done. But we had to go the union decertification process with the NLRB to get rid of them.

If you've ever been to the Daily Bruin, which is ruin by the university, the reporters are basically toothless. Editors have gotten in trouble for some stories. About a decade or so ago, me and several Daily Cal editors went on a road trip to visit the Daily Bruin to see how they operate (because we were going to switch our publication computer program, and we wanted to see their workflow). Anyways, they were actually jealous of the freedom we had and the stories we could cover.

Once, we ran a story on a high-level UC Berkeley administrator who was having an affair with one of the top ASUC officials. Under university control, there would've been consequences.

The Daily Cal, though, has had a connection to the university. After all, they're located on campus in Eshleman Hall. They have a lease with a board that is part university and part ASUC.

When the Daily Cal nearly folded in the mid-90s, it was Chancellor Tien who helped negotiate to have the Daily Cal return to Eshleman Hall in 1994 (as I noted, they were on Dwight near Shattuck at the time -- The Daily Cal originally occupied Eshleman's 6th floor from the building's founding in 1965 till they split with the university in 1971.)


From the San Francisco Chronicle, July 1995:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/07/26/MN47997.DTL

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After two years of stumbling along the edge of financial disaster, the Daily Californian in Berkeley is healthy enough again to live up to the ``daily'' part of its name by printing five times a week, its editors announced yesterday.

The newspaper, almost entirely operated by students at the University of California at Berkeley, had ended 96 years of daily publication in fall 1993. It trimmed back, eventually to just two issues a week, because of severe budget problems.

Since then, the Daily Cal's management has shed a costly mortgage by selling its former office building and moving back to the UC campus. It cut its nonstudent staff in half and negotiated a cost- cutting contract with its union.

The savings have pushed the annual budget of about $1.5 million back into the black, managers said. The Monday-to-Friday press runs are to begin August 23.

``It's going to be pretty difficult at first, but we have a really dedicated staff,'' said Bita Rahebi, the paper's 21-year-old editor in chief. ``We're pretty confident it will go well.''

The newspaper has operated as a nonprofit company since 1971, when it cut university ties and moved off campus after a policy battle with UC administrators. Although it sold its headquarters a year ago and moved back on campus, renting a floor at Eshleman Hall, the paper has maintained its independence from the university -- and that will not change with the new press runs, Rahebi said.

She and other Daily Cal managers would not divulge many details of the newspaper's finances, but they said it remains financially independent from the university.
That independent voice rings fine with the campus administration, said Linda Weimer, assistant to the chancellor.

``We have no daily newspaper in Berkeley, and it's really important to the university to have one,'' said Weimer. ``We've sorely missed the Daily Cal since it hasn't been daily, and we'll be delighted to have it back to full production.''

The Daily Cal began printing as the monthly University Echo in 1871, about three years after the University of California was established. It went daily under the Daily Californian banner in 1897 and now distributes 23,000 free copies of each issue to the campus and surrounding community.

When the paper cut back print runs in 1993 -- first to three times a week, then two -- its managers said the Daily Cal was burdened with a long-term debt of $300,000 and a crippling $5,000 monthly mortgage payment on its Dwight Way headquarters.

The Daily Cal has since sold its $500,000 property to Alta Bates Medical Center, and in the past two years, the paper's management and production staff has been cut from 33 workers to 16. The rest of the staff consists of 30 to 60 student editors and reporters, depending on the time of year. All but the top editors are paid virtually nothing.

Daily Cal General Manager John Bowman said the paper's debt is still ``sizable . . . but we wouldn't have taken the plunge back into daily production if we weren't in good shape.''

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BearyWhite;734068 said:

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what are you, 12?

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I wish!

My days at Cal go back quite a bit further than yours, to before the Daily Cal went independent and during the free speech movement. I don't recall any issues with the campus administration during my time that significantly constrained the editorial or reporting policies of the paper. It seems like the drive for independence was led by a cadre of immature kids who just wanted to get out from under of the wing of "Mommy and Daddy". Now they're paying the price.

cyrusthebear;734050 said:

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Not enough ad revenue.

Not enough ad revenue because readership/circulatoin sucks.

Circulation sucks because I can read through an entire issue in 3 minutes.

I can read through an entire issue in 3 minutes because there are 3 articles per issue.

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Ha! That was the same thing I did at Cal. A five minute read to distract me before class. Almost always sports related articles.

BearyWhite;734068 said:

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what are you, 12?

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The ignore function was never more appropriate.

CalBeast;734149 said:

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It was old the fifth time you posted it ork:

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Maybe XTasy is 12 years old.

Give the kid a break.

He may still only be learning the art of social interaction.

"me and some Daily Cal editors"

That has to be some inside joke among editors.

As much as the Daily Cal gets grief, it was a nice read and provided some distractions reading it on Sproul, in classes, or the lawns.

Has anyone viewed the Daily Cal budget? There is no reason to have such large amount go towards their own salary. Cut the amount of papers produced per day/ almost half do not actually get read.

okaydo;734218 said:

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[img]

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had to look this guy up.. first I've heard of Giorgio Tsoukalos. meme I missed out on, I guess. (also only just heard of cinnamon challenge yesterday, c/o jon stewart. gotta keep up.)

If it's independent of the university, how is the Daily Cal able to put forth a referendum that would attache to student fees?

From the FAQs:
http://voiceforcal.org/faqs/

hoop97;734406 said:

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If it's independent of the university, how is the Daily Cal able to put forth a referendum that would attache to student fees?

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Wouldn’t this fee compromise the Daily Cal’s independence?

No. Once passed, V.O.I.C.E. funds would go directly to the Daily Cal with no opportunity for tampering on the part of the university administration or the ASUC. That means the Daily Cal can continue to provide you objective, honest news and analysis without outside pressure or the threat of lost funding. Further, because every student (except those in low income families) would pay the fee, it would hold the Daily Cal accountable to the student body as a whole, rather than any particular interest.

CousinVinnieB;734333 said:

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Has anyone viewed the Daily Cal budget? There is no reason to have such large amount go towards their own salary. Cut the amount of papers produced per day/ almost half do not actually get read.

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Why does the Daily Cal spend so much on professional staff?
The Daily Cal is independent from the university and runs as its own corporation (the Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company, Inc) with a budget of about $850,000. In order to ensure the operation runs smoothly, we hire professional staff members (some full-time and some part-time) to provide industry experience and continuity. Professional staff members do not have to go to class and can stick around longer than four years. Nearly every student newspaper across the nation hires professional staff members for these reasons. Nonetheless, the Daily Cal has been increasingly investing in students to improve its operations by leverage their creativity and ambition.


There are often extra Daily Cals on the racks. Why doesn’t the Daily Cal print fewer?
Our current print run of 10,000 papers per day gives us the most affordable rate per issue printed, and advertisers value having more papers printed than fewer. Further, the marginal cost for a printing press to run a few more minutes and produce a few thousand more papers is small. However, we are currently reviewing our printing arrangements to see how we can decrease costs, a process we go through every few years.


Why doesn’t the Daily Cal stop paying its student staff?
The Daily Cal has significantly cut its student staff pay in recent years and has periodically considered doing so further. The strongest concern is that because many of the positions at the paper require 40-60 hours per week in order to produce a daily paper, staff members often could not work for the Daily Cal if it did not pay, because they would need to spend their time working elsewhere to help earn their education. Low-income student staff members bring this to our attention every time pay cuts are on the table. Further, the vast majority of student staff members are not paid. Of our 180-student editorial staff, for example, only 23 of the editors (who spend the most time putting out the paper) are paid.

Golden One;734108 said:

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My days at Cal go back quite a bit further than yours, to before the Daily Cal went independent and during the free speech movement. I don't recall any issues with the campus administration during my time that significantly constrained the editorial or reporting policies of the paper. It seems like the drive for independence was led by a cadre of immature kids who just wanted to get out from under of the wing of "Mommy and Daddy". Now they're paying the price.

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First of all, I doubt the university has money to spare the Daily Cal these days.

Secondly, it's just never a good idea to have that conflict of interest. Imagine if Bear Insider was run by the university. You think these forums would be as free-flowing? The fact is that I've personally witnessed many times the university trying to influence the Daily Cal's coverage. I've seen professors raise hackles, I've seen the UCPD get pissed off and complain.

Thirdly, many prestigious universities have independent publications, even Stanford. Of course, we could be like University of Washington and UCLA, which has the student government and/or the university supervise the student papers.

I just learned that Thomas Kinkade was a Daily Cal alum.

okaydo;734419 said:

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I just learned that Thomas Kinkade was a Daily Cal alum.

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The self proclaimed "most popular current artist."

It's claimed that he made nearly $100 million a year for his art.

Not bad for a Daily Cal hack.

Go Bears.

SchadenBear;734423 said:

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The self proclaimed "most popular current artist."

It's claimed that he made nearly $100 million a year for his art.

Not bad for a Daily Cal hack.

Go Bears.

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Imagine the fundraising opportunity of selling Kinkade prints of Memorial, Strawberry Creek, Doe Library, etc. Heck, we could have funded the entire stadium refurbishing and a basketball practice facility!

SchadenBear;734423 said:

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It's claimed that he made nearly $100 million a year for his "art".

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fify

BearyWhite;734439 said:

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fify

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My thoughts exactly.

SchadenBear;734440 said:

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My thoughts exactly.

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I had a funny experience in the Kinkade store -- one of hundreds in his retail empire -- in Monterey. Pointed and laughed as we saw the storefront, walked in as a joke, tried to keep from gagging at the first paintings I saw, talked to a salesperson, listened to their earnestness, breathed in the potpourri, felt sleepy in the subdued lighting, looked at a few more works, appreciated the nostalgic quality of a few of the paintings, found one or two I liked, asked about the price, took the salesperson's card, walked out the door and in the fresh air thought HOLY CRAP WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN THERE?