How COVID-19 has affected college newspapers: A mixed-methods study

ABSTRACT

This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic—with its college closures, business shutdowns, and student enrollment declines—impacted the independence of college media during the pandemic, and how those impacts will continue after the pandemic is over. Using a mixed-methods approach based on the Hierarchical Influences Model framework (Shoemaker & Reese, 2013), this study integrates the results of a survey of 126 student media news outlets with interviews from 15 well-known news organizations from universities with established independent practices, to establish a relationship between revenue sources and student participation with independence measures. Results confirmed a stronger push toward digital products and the use of a wider variety of revenue-generating techniques during the pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Newspaper Research Journal is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)