Students call for replacement of Plainsman manager

By: Brittany Whitley Staff Writer | Opelika Auburn News
Published: February 14, 2009

The student editorial staff of the Auburn Plainsman called Thursday for the replacement of the newspaper’s general manager, saying the publication’s business side had failed to generate the revenue necessary to support operations.

“While these are hard economic times, we believe new management of our business operations is needed now,” the editorial staff said in a front-page editorial in the Thursday edition.

Business manager Jan Waters had no comment on the staff’s call for her ouster. She said questions should be directed to Johnny Green, the AU dean of students.

Kristin Oberholzer, editor of the Auburn Plainsman, also had no comment.

“We said what we wanted to say. We’re not elaborating on this any further,” she said.

Ed Williams, faculty advisor for the Plainsman, did not return a phone message left at his office.

The editorial said the newspaper could not continue on its current course.

“If we continue to operate as we do now, the Plainsman will be unable to support itself within two years,” the editorial said.

Loss of ad revenue is nothing new to the newspapers, said Peter Pepinsky, an AU alum, former Plainsman staffer and former member of the board of student communications.

“Revenues are down everywhere,” he said. “Some of the relevant questions — Have the student advertisers, business managers and staff advisors at the Plainsman dealt effectively with this recession we’re in? Have there been plans implemented or at least considered to react to this market? The Plainsman is a learning lab both on the news lab and the ad side.”

Pepinsky said this could be a good opportunity for the student paper.

“The Plainsman, as a learning lab, also should be considering how it delivers its news to the AU community,” he said. “Do 19-year-olds need the feel of newsprint in their hands to absorb news? The market for accurate, timely, relevant news isn’t diminishing. Distribution approaches may be rife for change.

“This whole Plainsman flap may be a siren call for a close look at campus media by stakeholders. What we really need to do is look beyond the immediate issue of who’s doing what and focus on the long range point that there is a superb newspaper that needs to hang around.”