Syracuse University’s vision statement says they are dedicated to close interaction and engagement with the world—locally, nationally, and globally, so SU should provide online subscriptions to Syracuse.com, the online version of the Post Standard.

Local engagement is complicated when students have trouble finding out what’s happening in the city. A paywall undermines the need for a local news source.

Syracuse.com instituted a dynamic meter in November that forces users that access the site regularly to pay for the site’s content. The online subscription is $19.99 a month, far greater than The New York Times student subscription for $4 a month.

The university has a responsibility to create aware students. Knowledge crowns those who seek her, but it’s hard to seek knowledge when you need to pay $19.99 a month to access it.

The premium for unlimited access to Syracuse.com is out of reach for many students, and national papers offer much cheaper student prices because they have a larger readership. The university — which hosts one of the top journalism schools in the country — has done nothing to provide students with access to this local news source, even as they provide daily print versions of The New York Times and USA Today. It is just as important to support local journalism.

There has been no conversation in quite some time about getting the Post Standard for students on campus according to Tim Kennedy, president of the media company that owns The Post Standard and Syracuse.com — Advance Media New York.

“The health of the city and the health of the university are linked,” Kennedy said. “It’s a two way street.”

Seth Gitner, a newspaper professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, who requires his freshman students to report on stories off campus, said it’s important for students to know about their community.

Learning about life off campus may prove difficult without access to the main news source for the community, which draws 3.5 million to four million users a month according to Kennedy.

It is unclear why the Post Standard is not provided for free on campus. It could be a reflection of what the faculty read, said Corey Takahashi, a magazine professor at Newhouse who admits he does not read Syracuse.com.

It could also be that national newspapers can afford to offer cheaper prices to a university. But the university should at least make an effort to help reduce prices for students.

For Vincent Crosbie, an adjunct senior consultant on new media at Newhouse, making local news available to students can benefit everyone. Newspapers can attract advertisers looking to reach university students, students become more engaged in their community, and universities better serve their student body.

“It’s a win-win-win for students, universities, and newspapers,” Crosbie said.

Students should call on the university to start a conversation with Syracuse.com about paying for students’ subscriptions at a discount, something Kennedy said they are already considering.

If Newhouse can call its lecture series “Journalism Matters,” it’s time for the university to prove that they mean it.

Patrick Linehan is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism and policy studies dual major. His column runs biweekly. He can be contacted at pjlineha@syr.edu.

Published on December 3, 2018 at 9:50 pm