Two offers on the table for free newspaper program
Posted by: Lillian Kaiser in News, Vox Populi, tags: Free Newspapers, Georgetown, GUSA, Interhall, Journalism, The Corp
Promising news for print journalism fans: although the Collegiate Readership Program, which provided free newspapers on campus, was suspended this year due to lack of funding, there are two replacement offers on the table.
Members of GUSA, the Corp, and Interhall have been working to restore free papers to campus. According to Will Cousino (SFS ‘12) of Interhall, both options would provide roughly half as many papers as last year at about half the cost.
The first offer came from the New York Times and would include 200 copies of the Times and no other papers. USA Today, which sponsored last year’s program, also made an offer late last week that would include USA Today, the Washington Post and the Times.
Cousino and GUSA Vice President Jason Kluger (MSB ‘11) will sit down next Monday to discuss which plan they, along with Corp CFO Phil Goodman (SFS ‘10) and GUSA President Calen Angert (MSB ‘11), would like to pursue.
Both offers are currently at $12,000, according to Angert and Kluger. But they’re hoping to haggle them down.
“We’d love to start a bidding war. That would be ideal,” Angert said.
“As for distribution locations, last year we had four and this year they would probably be reduced to three or two,” Cousino said. “The one we’re pretty sure we’d cut would be the site at Uncommon Grounds.”
USA Today collected data about how many papers were picked up at what location, according to Cousino. On average, 134 papers a day were picked up in Leo’s, 133 in Red Square, 105 in Alumni Square, and 88 at Uncommon Grounds, he said.
“Once we pick a program, all the focus will be on raising the funds to get it and keep it sustainable,” Kluger said.
Last year, the Collegiate Readership Program was sponsored by five organizations, donating $5,000 each. Those organizations were GUSA, the Corp, Interhall, the Senior Vice President’s Office, and the Provost’s Office.
The Corp and GUSA are the only confirmed sponsors of the free newspaper program so far, according to Angert. The students are also hoping to get funding from the Dean of the MSB, among other sources.
Photo by Sam Sweeney.
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I’m slightly confused . . . is my reading of this correct?
The NYT is offering JUST the NYT and no other papers for $12,000/year.
USA today is offering USA Today, the WaPo, and the NYT for $12,000/year.
Seems like a pretty easy choice, unless the NYT is willing to drastically discount its services.
maybe the Times offer includes more NYTs than the USA Today offer.
e.g. 200 Times vs. 100 Times, 100 Posts, 100 USA Todays.
I could be completely wrong though…
Yeah, that’s how it works. I wasn’t able to get the exact numbers for the USA Today deal, but both deals offer roughly the same amount of papers in total. I’ll see if I can get the exact breakdown.