The News goes independent

After 82 years as the university's on-campus newspaper, the Northeastern News will change its name to the Huntington News and become independent of the university in September

Although the newspaper's content and distribution will remain the same, the Huntington News will be located off-campus at 295 Huntington Ave., next to Symphony Market.

The News has been operating primarily as an independent newspaper for nearly a decade, supporting itself through advertising revenue. However, the publication was a student organization and used university office space.

The move to cut ties with the university was set in motion about a year ago by then editor-in-chief Ricky Thompson and former managing editor Derek Hawkins. The pair said they first seriously discussed becoming independent last summer, when The News was relocated to a smaller space in the Curry Student Center, which is approximately a third of the size of the original space. However, both said they weren't the first to consider the idea.

"As long as I've been around The News … there was always a talk of going independent that came up at different points for one reason or another," Thompson said. "It was the perennial discussion that no one really acted upon."

Thompson said talk escalated when fear of prior review arose recently, during a time of speculation about the university's humor publication Times New Roman (TNR) staff's decision to pull its December 2007 issue and reprint it with modifications.

Although Hawkins said the TNR reprint was a catalyst, The News was already financially self-sufficient through advertising, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go independent.

Journalism professor Walter Robinson said The News is in an unusual situation where it is accountable to the people it reports on. And although Robinson said in today's age of media conglomerates, newspapers may occasionally have to report on the companies by which they are owned, this situation is different because The News solely covers Northeastern.

"The main focus of the coverage of the newspaper … is the university itself and the administration of the university," Robinson said. "The important thing for the university and for The News and for journalism is that it be independent of any control by the people that you're covering."

Ed Klotzbier, vice president of student affairs, said he believes The News' move from being a student group to a nonprofit corporation is an evolutionary process that shows the entrepreneurial spirit that Northeastern looks to instill in its students.

"I think this move by the [Northeastern] News to go independent is a great example of experiential learning," Klotzbier said. "It's the caliber of today's Northeastern student. I would have to say I'm impressed and proud."

Although Northeastern is the last of Boston College, Boston University and Harvard to have an independent, student-run newspaper, Klotzbier said he sees potential for the Huntington News to be better than its predecessors because many students on staff have other work experience.

"I can argue that our students' newspaper will be better than other student newspapers because of co-op," he said.

Klotzbier said the only downfall he could see is business-related issues. The Huntington News would have to continue to bring in the same amount of advertising dollars without the Northeastern name to fall back on.

Editor-and-chief Kate Augusto said although it would have been ideal to have the newspaper's name be more Northeastern-specific, The News did not want to license the name from the university, as administrators would have required.

"The school offered to lease it to us … but if for whatever reason we had to change it at some point in the future, we figured it'd be nice to do it now," she said.

Augusto said using "Huntington" in the title made sense because it is a part of the address of the newspaper at its new office location as well as the university. She said keeping "news" in the title was also important for continuity purposes.

"We've always been known as 'The News,'" Augusto said.

Associate professor of marketing Robert Young said changing a name makes a difference in the advertising world; and having the word "Northeastern" in the title gives the paper immediate credibility.

"There are examples … of companies changing their name, of brand names being changed, and generally what has to happen is the company … has to make an effort to communicate to people that this new brand is the same thing as the old brand, only better," Young said.

Northeastern will continue have control of the paper's distribution locations on campus, but Thompson said he does not think this will be an issue.

"By cutting off distribution or trying to play hardball with that as one of the last remaining chains of connection would be detrimental to both the student body and Northeastern as a whole," Thompson said.

After more than a year of combined work by former and current editorial boards, Augusto said she feels a sense of pride being the editor-in-chief to start the Huntington News.

"It's definitely something I think all of us are proud of," Augusto said. "Everybody on e-board is proud of this."