The University of Southern California’s historic Daily Trojan student-run newspaper will no longer be printed daily.
In a meeting with student editors last Friday, representatives from USC Student Life informed the publication that significant funding cuts would be implemented for the Spring 2025 semester.
“I think all of us in that meeting felt pretty blindsided,” said recently elected editor-in-chief Stefano Fendrich in an interview with NBCLA.
Among the budget cuts, students will no longer be paid for their work nor will the paper be physically printed five days a week – now just three.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“It was just straight up telling us, hey, we have this deficit, and this is how we plan to cut it,” Fendrich said.
Daily Trojan editors have traditionally received a small monthly stipend for their work. All other contributors were also paid even smaller allowances for their work on a piece-by-piece basis.
In a statement released by the publication Monday, editors said the “decision was made without consulting the Daily Trojan’s student leadership in any capacity” and that “despite [staff] objections, [USC Student Life’s] decision was final.”
“We are disappointed in Student Life’s lack of investment in independent student journalism,” the statement continued.
The paper is now looking for possible funding solutions and is actively consulting other university publications. Fendrich mentioned tutoring programs for LAUSD schools, merchandise sales, and writing contests to raise money, however, he said the school has so far rejected these notions.
“So far, we’ve been told we aren’t allowed to do anything and have to go through all these bureaucratic processes to get anything done,” Fendrich said.
He added, “We refuse to give up on this paper even though it seems the University has, and we will keep trying to find ways to pay our masthead and staff as much as we can.”
The paper is currently unprofitable and receives partial subsidization from the school, according to Fendrich.
In a statement to NBCLA, USC Student Life said the paper has incurred annual deficits of over $100,000 and called for exploring new funding models.
USC Student Life sent the following statement to NBCLA.
“As the newspaper industry continues to evolve, and advertising revenue has trended downward, we believe the Daily Trojan needs a new funding and operations model. Over the least three years the Daily Trojan has been running annual deficits of over $100,000, which had been covered by the university.
"We continue to work directly with the student senior management team to adjust their expenses and develop a more sustainable revenue model. We are dedicated to ongoing engagement and planning with the Daily Trojan’s student leaders.
"Student Life has been and remains committed to the value and role of student media, and we look forward to finding a way to ensure their prosperity."
While USC is the publisher of the Daily Trojan, all facets of publication are handled by currently enrolled students. The Daily Trojan claims full editorial independence from USC.
The paper has served the USC community since 1912.
