Editor’s Notebook: Standing with the Indiana Daily Student by sharing the load
Yesterday, the Indiana Daily Student broke the news that the student media director had been fired. What can The B Square do to help? We have set up guidelines that can allow outlets like the IDS to use B Square reporting like a local wire service.
Yesterday (Oct. 15) the Indiana Daily Student broke the news that student media director Jim Rodenbush had been fired, amid a struggle between him and the administration about the content of the printed IDS homecoming edition.
It’s hard to analyze that as something other than censorship of the paper. That’s outrageous, but outrage alone will not help much.
In another piece published the same day, the IDS reported that the most recent print edition of the publication would be its last.
The headline reads: “IU has now fully cut IDS print. What more is there to say?”
With plenty more to say is Indy Politics publisher Abdul Hakim-Shabazz. He suggests that the pivot to a pure digital format by IDS—or perhaps a different publication under student control—should now be embraced.
As publisher of an online-only news outlet, of course I am going to say Shabazz is right.
But what can The B Square do to help? As the old saying goes: It is right to curse the cold, but you should also put on a warm hat. What warm hat can The B Square offer?
Over the last few months, we have finalized a set of republishing guidelines for The B Square, which were quietly released last week.
The basic idea is that other publications are welcome to serve their audience with The B Square’s reporting, at no cost, if they follow the guidelines. It means that The B Square can be used as a kind of free local wire service.
The guidelines were written to work well for organizations like Indiana Public Media and WFHB. That’s why they say that advertising (as opposed to sponsorships) should not appear on the same screen as B Square material—unless written permission is granted.
The IDS includes plenty of ads on its website. So here’s what The B Square can do to help: Give written permission. The link goes to a copy of a letter, giving written permission to the IDS. The file is hosted on BloomDocs.org, which is a public document repository set up by The B Square.
The document repository and the republishing guidelines are conceived as ways to stretch Bloomington’s limited resources for local news.
Now and always, The B Square will stand for treating local news as a common good, not a private asset.
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