The Texas Student Media Printing Press
Posted on February 12, 2009
Filed Under Coverage, Work Cyclical |
Despite an overwhelming outcry from students, the Texas Student Media printing press of the University of Texas, which prints the Daily Texan and Texas Travesty plus over 30 other local Austin publications, will be sold in May. Consequentially, its press crew members will be laid off. Printing will be outsourced to the Austin American-Statesman.
The decision was made by the administration at Texas Student Media.
The following documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, from student publications against the sale, and from student advocates against the sale.
Operations manager receives a raise of 13.7%. A general annual raise is 3.0%.
TSTV budget for personnel expands 106%.
Cactus yearbook wages increase. The Cactus Yearbook editor and the Daily Texan editor and managing editor are provided with tuition installments. The Texas Travesty editor is not.
The Cactus yearbook budget increases. The Cactus sells at most 2,000 yearbooks to the over 50,000 student population.
Budget for advertising increases.
While some are laid off, others make six figures.
Click to download the Student Government resolution to save the printing press.
The resolution passed unanimously.
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8 Responses to “The Texas Student Media Printing Press”
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[...] View the real details about the sale of the University of Texas publications’ printing press h… [...]
The Texan makes enough ad revenue to sustain itself and its press if it didn’t have to support the failing yearbook, television station and radio and their swelling budgets. It’s sad the Texan has to give up its press because TSM has used it as a cash cow to support other media that should support itself.
Sorry, but printing presses are very, very expensive. I would think that students would demand TSP to stop killing trees for newsprint, besides why print it when you read it online anyhow? Times are a changin’ folks, and million $$$ presses are as necessary as company Lear jets for junkets to Vegas. I worked there as a student in ‘75-’76. Great environment, but print journalism is fading as fast as WW II veterans.
[...] As Texas Student Media preps to rid itself of the printing press in May, online communities are beginning to buzz around this post from SobSister. [...]
hey, this is hilarious, bros
Ugh.
Accountants and bureaucrats strike again.
@frank tilley: It is true that times are changing and print media is dying, but your argument is a canard because the issue is not whether The Texan goes digital or not in order to stake a claim on the frontier of the millenium’s trends. It’s not about being swept up in the zeitgeist or being part of it.
It’s a matter of poor management and cost-cutting. The Texan is going to stay dead-tree for some time. We’re just going to outsource what was once done (with pride) in-house.
Most print media is dying because it fails to service its readership in a holistic way and because their communities are unraveling. But college newspapers are unique in they their communities are fixed and we pretty much get what we want out of the Texan. If not one can always join the ranks in some way. And, needless to say, no small part of the Texan’s holistic appeal is the fact that we printed it ourselves.
Sadly that’s going away because, surprise of surprises, management has made poor decisions. Quite the shocker. But to suggest otherwise is to play a hollow canard.
Umm, I accidentally posted before I could edit my own comment. My bad. But at least you get a +1 in site traffic and comments…if nearly redundant. Anyway, here’s what I really wanted to say:
Ugh.
Accountants and bureaucrats strike again.
(With the full flair of mind-numbing and number-crunching idiocy we’re primed to expect!)
@frank tilley: while it’s true that times are changing and print media is largely (though not entirely) dying, your argument is a canard because the issue is not whether The Texan goes digital or not.
There’s not a false choice between digital-or-die for the Texan that’s being facilitated by the printing press’ current status or vice versa.
It’s not about being able to stake a claim on the frontier of the new millennium’s trends. It’s not about being swept up in the zeitgeist or being part of it.
All of which you, intentionally or not, imply.
It’s a matter of poor management and cost-cutting that will save and shore up some white-collar jobs and some bad product at the expense of blue-collar jobs and good product.
The Texan is going to continue to produce a dead-tree edition for some time. We’re just going to outsource what was once done (with pride) in-house.
Most print media is dying because it fails to service its readership in a holistic way and because their respective communities are either unraveling or feel taken for granted.
But college newspapers are unique in they their communities are fixed and we pretty much get what we want out of the Texan, all things considered. If not one can always join the ranks in some way. And, needless to say, no small part of the Texan’s holistic appeal is the fact that we printed it ourselves.
Sadly that’s going away because, surprise of surprises, management has made poor decisions that enrich themselves (and whatever holding company buys up the Statesman’s toxic assets) at basically everyone else’s expense. Quite the shocker. But just look at the documents this blog has made public. It doesn’t take an article in any periodical to explain those numbers.
That is what’s happening here.
To suggest otherwise is to play a hollow canard indeed.
You all are idiots. Of course they are selling the press. Media is in the shitter right now and they have no choice. These people are losing their jobs and all you care about is a hunk of metal. TSM revenue is struggling hard and profits from the sale of the press could help sustain the organization for a bit. Maybe help it survive a bit longer until the economy heels. PEOPLE > METAL. And no one is sucking up 6 figures right now. No one.