Gannett Company, Inc., announced Feb. 13 its purchase of its second student newspaper in Florida, reviving debate about whether it is advantageous for students to have private companies controlling their campus papers.
An article printed in the Central Florida Future, the student newspaper at the University of Central Florida, said Gannett purchased the Future through Florida Today, a daily newspaper. Gannett acquired the FSView and Florida Flambeau, a Florida State University student paper, last August by purchasing it through the Tallahassee Democrat daily newspaper, according to the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism.
Jason Paul, a sophomore in AU's School of Communication, said he believes Gannett's control of the Central Florida Future might be advantageous to UCF students.
"I can see [Gannett's ownership] as a benefit in that students can learn how to write better and have a stronger campus newspaper," Paul said.
The student papers Gannett purchased were independent from the universities they serviced.
Before Gannett's purchase of the FSView and Florida Flambeau, the paper was independent and privately owned by Robert Parker, according to the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism.
Similarly, the Central Florida Future was owned by Knight Publishing, an independent entity that produced the paper at University of Central Florida, according to the Future.
Wendell Cochran, a professor in SOC, was the former Special Projects Editor for Gannett News Service and is the division director for journalism in SOC. Cochran said he thinks Gannett will be beneficial for the Central Florida Future through increasing story diversity.
"It's not unusual for content from one of the papers to show up in one of the other papers inside the company," Cochran said.
He said there is a possibility that an article from a Gannett paper in another college town that might interest UCF students could be placed in the Central Florida Future.
While students have voiced concerns over corporate takeovers of student papers, Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said students would retain editorial control of the paper.
Celeste Ward, a first-year graduate student in SOC, said she is skeptical about Gannett's and others' interests in student-run papers.
"It's a little troubling that a corporation would want to get involved in a student newspaper," Ward said. "It would be more troubling if they were looking to exercise editorial control, but since Gannett isn't looking to do that, it's less of a concern."
Other news professionals also do not believe the Central Florida Future's new ownership will be harmful for students who work at the paper.
Matthew Swibel, an associate editor at Forbes Magazine and an adjunct faculty member in SOC, said he believes students should not worry about their experiences running a paper being tarnished under corporate control.
"To my knowledge, those fears have not materialized," Swibel said. "But it's clearly an attempt by a giant in a dying industry to reach for additional revenue."
According to Gannett's Web site, the company holds 90 daily newspapers in the U.S., including USA Today and Florida Today, and is America's largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company also owns 1,000 non-daily publications and controls USA Weekend, a weekly news magazine with a circulation of around 2.3 million.
