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Every year, the Daily Nebraskan is supported by your student fees, in addition to advertising revenue. And every year, we are proud to call ourselves an independent journalistic voice on campus — run by students and for students, without any university official exercising editorial control.
Unfortunately, the rest of college journalism isn't all as fortunate as the DN. The Daily Illini, the independent student paper of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, faces a growing debt to its printer, in part because it has always relied on advertising revenue, not student fees. While it's admirable and amazing that the Daily Illini kept its doors open and papers printed for 141 years without a dollar of student fees, this is impossible in today's economic climate.
Today, a day like any other, we are especially proud of the support the students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln show this paper each year. We know you don't always agree with the choice of coverage, the opinion of columnists or the reviews in Arts & Entertainment. But without your support, we wouldn't be able to exist.
College student papers are an essential part of a budding journalist's education. Classwork in reporting and editing can only go so far without real, practical experience. The Daily Illini, among its many alumni, counts film critic Roger Ebert. Current and former UNL students working for the DN have been offered internships at Bloomberg, National Public Radio and the Chicago Tribune. They also won national journalism awards and went on to work for the Washington Post and The New York Times. It's not easy to accomplish such feats without experience gained at a college newspaper.
The Daily Illini is in trouble. We at the DN wish the paper the best and hope UIUC's students recognize the value of student journalism on campus. The Daily Nebraskan is grateful to UNL's students for recognizing that, year after year.
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