From the Editor: The New Political is not a reason to defund The Post

There are some things about The New Political (TNP) that differ from The Post, the largest student publication at Ohio U. 

Our major expense as a publication is our magazine, printed only twice a year. Additionally, we finance a relatively low-cost website. Our staff is not paid. The money we spend comes from our own fundraising.

These choices are intentional. TNP strives to maintain as much independence from the university as possible, including financially, so our content is as independent and unbiased as possible. As a political publicication, we believe this is vital. 

On Thursday, the Athens NEWS reported that Ohio U would cease to pay the one full-time paid employee of The Post, Andrea Lewis, “who oversees advertising sales as its exclusive source of revenue” after the upcoming school year.  

In the report, Ohio U compared The Post to TNP.

“In a statement, the university argued that in stripping resources from The Post, it’s working to be more equitable to the other student-run media outlets that have come to prominence in recent years and are afforded far fewer resources, including political news publication The New Political and culture magazine Backdrop,” the NEWS wrote.

Our editorial decisions at TNP are not a result of inequitable funding of campus publications. Stripping The Post of critical resources works directly against student journalists – and TNP’s “prominence” as a publication is not a reason to do so.  

Hans Meyer, The Post’s faculty advisor, told the Athens NEWS that he’s pessimistic about the publication’s ability to carry its financial burden through private means. The Post has much larger expenses than TNP; it produces a weekly print paper, a website and pays several student journalists a small stipend. 

“It’s extremely important that we identify a process by which we are supporting all of these organizations equitably, and University funding dedicated to student organizations and allocated through Student Senate is one way we’re working to achieve that goal,” Ohio U tweeted in a rewritten post Friday.

It is extremely important that we identify a process by which we are supporting all of these organizations equitably, and University funding dedicated to student organizations and allocated through Student Senate is one way we’re working to achieve that goal. (5/5)

— Ohio University (@ohiou) June 18, 2021

I am not seeking to break TNP’s tradition of financial independence from Ohio U. While I do not know how Ohio U plans to redistribute the funds allotted to The Post in an equitable way, TNP will likely not accept them. 

In the news ecosystem of Ohio U’s student journalism and of Athens, The Post is a major player. When new TNP reporters enter our publication, we recommend they read The Post. We are content competitors, often seeing each other at the same political events and covering the same stories.

As a niche publication with a small staff, TNP relies on other publications in Athens, such as the Post, when we are unable to cover a story due to our limited means. Cutting funding to The Post will hurt those who write there, but it will also be felt by TNP. 

As editor-in-chief Abby Miller wrote in her editorial: “While student media does need to be more equitable, it doesn’t start with defunding The Post; it starts with seeing the intrinsic value in publications across campus and giving them the resources they need to truly thrive.”