By Sonya Smith
On-line Forty-Niner

After originally planning to become independent in the fall 2003 semester, the On-line Forty-Niner and University Magazine now plan to use the fall semester as a transition period going independence for the spring semester.
 
This decision comes after concerns over the On-line Forty-Niner’s budget and staffing, and the University Magazine’s advertising.
 
“Nobody wants this to happen if either publication will be floundering,” said editor in chief of the University Magazine, Mandy Wright. As editor in chief of the On-line Forty-Niner, Kimberly Pasquis agreed that she did not feel the publications were in the position to go independent.
 
“I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take to determine the new standards [for the publications] if it had taken us four weeks to put together this [transition] board,” Pasquis said.
 
The magazine needs to give people more time to get used to the idea of an independent model, as well as a chance to increase advertising revenue, Wright said. Advertising usually grows as each semester develops, ranging from a few advertisements in the first issue to 14 advertisements in the last issue, she added.
 
Advertising Manager for Forty-Niner Publications, Beverly Munson said consistency is a setback for the magazine with four issues for each the fall and spring semesters because there is little continuation.
 
Funding was also an impediment for the On-line Forty-Niner, who saw red ink in its budget until recently, Munson said. Wright also said the On-line Forty-Niner budget deficit was a cause of pushing back the complete transition.
 
The On-line Forty-Niner also is using the transitional semester as a chance to recruit more students from outside of the journalism department, said Chris Burnett, a professor on the transition board for the Forty-Niner publications.
 
“We have to make sure staff will recruit students not used to writing for the paper,” Burnett said.
 
Pasquis added that the newspaper needs a large staff in order to put out a daily newspaper, as the newspaper usually has around 12 stories printed each day by student reporters.
 
Pasquis said that recruiting would begin within the journalism department. Then, “once that becomes known, hopefully [recruiting] will open up to the rest of the campus.”
 
Apart from working on funding and recruiting, both publications’ main change for the fall semester will be to select an editor in chief for a full year, Burnett said. The other editors for the University Magazine also plan to be yearlong positions to create more consistency, Wright said.
 
The editor in chief will then select their staff and will determine the various salaries, Munson said.
 
The earnings for the editors will also be changed. Rather than getting paid through scholarships, the editors will be paid through hourly time cards reported monthly, Munson said.
 
In addition to the editors, the reporters will more than likely be paid for their stories starting in the fall semester, Munson said.
 

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