Red

The

PUBLIC RELATIONS | CAMPAIGN | FALL 2010

&Black
]

Ben Benson Tanya DiClemente Stefanie DiLegge Collins Johnson Ashley Teale Megan Trammell

Executive Summary
In the 2010 fall semester, six students five undergraduates and one graduate student were assigned The University of Georgias student newspaper, The Red & Black, as their ADPR 5950 Campaigns class client. Dr. Ruthann Lariscy provided the students with background information about The Red & Black and the newspapers pressing problem of falling readership. In the second week of the class, the six students met with The Red & Blacks publisher, Harry Montevideo, and advertising director, Natalie McClure, to discuss the problems, challenges and aspirations for the school newspaper. In the initial meeting, Montevideo and McClure said that The Red & Blacks distribution rate had fallen from its peak five years ago of 17,000 newspapers to 16,000 in 2009 and, eventually, to 14,000 in January 2010. Montevideo and McClure explained The Red & Blacks need to increase its rate closer to its peak distribution. Even most troubling is that The University of Georgias student enrollment has increased in the last five years, while the distribution rate of newspapers has fallen. According to Montevideo and McClure, students have overwhelmingly transitioned to using mobile media and social networking between classes instead of picking up the newspaper. Reading The Red & Black was once looked at as the cool thing to do on campus. However, with technological advances and a saturation of smart phones, fewer students feel compelled to pick up The Red & Black. Today, students have other ways to occupy their time and acquire news. After this first meeting, the campaigns group began to undertake a 15-week research effort to understand student motivations, opinions and perceptions regarding The Red & Black. The group took every step to ensure that the research addressed The Red & Blacks falling readership rates. To begin the research, the campaigns team conducted six distinct focus groups to understand university students main issues, opinions and comments about The Red & Black. Additionally, the team wanted to know why or why not students choose to read the print editions of the student-run newspaper. The focus groups included athletes, Greek community members, upperclassmen students, freshmen and student government senators. The team conducted one last focus group with The Red & Black staff, who were specifically selected by Montevideo and McClure.

The Red & Black

Executive Summary
Different key publics expressed their own concerns during the focus groups. Greek life members and athletes questioned the staffs motivations and believed The Red & Blacks articles were biased. Other students cited a lack of time to read the newspaper. Many focus group participants said they now go online for their news consumption. On the other hand, many students in the focus groups read The Red & Blacks print edition. Certain sections of the newspaper such as Coupon Corner on Tuesdays and Thursdays event calendar encourage students to pick up the newspaper on these days. With these thoughts in mind, the campaigns team approached The Red & Black focus group with the intent to learn the newspaper staffs thoughts about its audience. The Red & Black staff expects the adversity from highly publicized groups on campus. The staffs main goals for the paper are to have students appreciate the product, to read it for newsworthiness and to understand the quality and prestige of the paper. The staff rightly takes pride in the newspaper. Although unknown to many UGA students, The Red & Black has consistently won prestigious awards and is recognized as a top collegiate newspaper. In addition to focus groups, the campaigns team wanted to learn about a former journalists thoughts on The Red & Black. By interviewing Dr. Barry Hollander, a UGA journalism professor, the campaigns team sought to understand the perceptions about The Red & Black by a seasoned journalist. Dr. Hollander thinks The Red & Black is a credible news sources, although he feels the paper writes too straightforward articles and should take a more liberal approach it news coverage. However, he believes that some of the writers, especially the sports reporters, are not as expertly trained as they could and should be. With the guidance from the interview and focus group findings, the campaigns team began to brainstorm questions that would result in scientific insights and attitudes of the UGA population toward The Red & Black. In order to gather this information, the team designed a survey to be deployed for a randomly generated sample of university students. The random sample ensures that the survey results can be generalized to the population as a whole, meaning that the results would be valid for The University of Georgia student body.

The Red & Black

Executive Summary
Once the Institutional Review Board approved the survey process, the campaigns team surveyed a random sample of 1,170 upperclassmen students including graduate students and a separate random sample of nearly 1,000 freshmen students. The team deployed these surveys in October and November 2010 and encouraged students to participate by providing a gift certificate incentive. The survey began with questions about general media use and progressed into questions specifically about The Red & Black. It asked about students preferred mediums for reading news and what they regard as the most important sections in The Red & Black. These questions allowed the campaigns team to understand the primary motivations and reasons UGA students have for consuming news media. The survey results also allowed the campaigns team to compare perceptions about The Red & Black between the select student groups and UGAs student population. Finally, the survey scientifically tested students overall satisfaction and trustworthiness with the paper, as well as their attitudes toward the papers professionalism and objectivity. After analyzing the results in SPSS, a statistical analysis program, the campaigns team learned about students reading behaviors. UGA students clearly believe the most important sections of The Red & Black are the news and crime sections. Student readers who read The Red & Black for its variety sections enjoy the newspapers puzzles. Sports readers use the newspaper to learn about campus crime. Surprisingly, student readers show similar readership habits across gender, class standing and media habits. Other than a few expected results for example, males ranked sports higher than females The Red & Black can design its content and communications campaigns to apply to the entire UGA student body. Furthermore, the survey results revealed that the general UGA student population is satisfied with news coverage in The Red & Black. For the most part, students believe the newspaper is a professional, trustworthy and objective paper. Despite their positive attitudes toward the papers professionalism, UGA students feel the staff are not experts at their jobs. However, students understand the staff are still practicing to be professional journalists.

The Red & Black

Executive Summary
While many of the results show that most students hold positive perceptions regarding The Red & Black, students may become disenchanted with the newspaper as they progress through college. Seniors in particular have some negative feelings about The Red & Black. However, seniors are also the most likely student group to obtain a printed Red & Black during the week. In fact, most seniors averaged reading The Red & Blacks print edition three or four times a week, significantly more than any other grade level. These results show that The Red & Blacks readership does not necessarily rely on how much the students trust or are satisfied with the newspaper. Readership could be better explained with how long students have attended The University of Georgia and how involved students are with campus organizations and activities. Even though seniors read The Red & Black more than any other grade level, freshmen and sophomores also read the newspaper at least once a week. More than 80 percent of students read The Red & Blacks print edition at least occasionally during the week. However, the majority of students read the paper only once or twice during the week. Few UGA students read the paper every day, and only about one-third read The Red & Black three or four times per week. This lack of consistency could explain the reason for the newspapers falling distribution numbers. In the last research method, the campaigns team content analyzed the Louisiana State University college newspaper, The Daily Reveille. The team chose The Daily Reveille for comparison due to its comparable distribution and its presence in the SEC. The main goal in analyzing The Daily Reveille was to compare the different topics and student organizations covered on a day-to-day basis between the two student-run newspapers. By analyzing both university newspapers within the same period of time, the campaigns team could make comparisons regarding the type of content and suggest recommendations based on content analysis findings. Throughout the semester the campaigns team worked 825.96 hours over the course of 15 weeks to complete the research process and create recommendations for The Red & Black. The campaigns team spent the first 10 weeks researching UGA students attitudes and beliefs toward their campus newspaper. As a result of the research, the campaigns team formulated recommendations for The Red & Black to implement over the course of the spring semester to increase readership.

The Red & Black

Executive Summary
These recommendations include the following: Link social media content to the print edition of The Red & Black Launch a foursquare campaign to drive student traffic to distribution boxes Hire a public relations or marketing intern to facilitate the papers social media efforts, online content, research and event planning Update the layout to promote the papers online features Revamp their distribution process, including adding boxes on and off campus Offer a broader range of news coverage Host a Meet and Greet event for Red & Black staff and student organization leaders Add a specific article in UGA 101 about The Red & Black for incoming students Create self-promotional advertisements on buses and distribution boxes to inform the student body about the newspapers prestigious awards Many of the campaigns team recommendations are based on linking social and mobile media with the newspaper. Research findings suggest a continuous increase in social and mobile media usage, which is progressively making it more difficult to get students away from those devices. Regardless of its actions, The Red & Black will not be able to slow the adoption of social and mobile technologies. However, The Red & Black can position itself to take advantage of these technological advances. The recommendations to link the printed paper to social and mobile media are proposed to help increase The Red & Blacks readership. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and recommendations, the campaigns team has provided a follow-up survey to be deployed in March 2011. After completing this project, the campaigns team hopes The Red & Black will implement the recommendations and find improvements in their readership rates and brand awareness on campus.

The Red & Black

Table of Contents
Situation Analysis ............................................................................................................ 9 - 18
History ..........................................................................................................................................................9 Mission..........................................................................................................................................................9 Key Publics ...................................................................................................................................................9 Segmentation...............................................................................................................................................10 Psychographics ...........................................................................................................................................11 Past Publicity Efforts ..................................................................................................................................12 Strengths ............................................................................................................................................. 12 - 13 Weaknesses ........................................................................................................................................ 14 - 15 Opportunities....................................................................................................................................... 15 - 16 Threats................................................................................................................................................. 17 - 18

Goals and Objectives / Strategies and Tactics ............................................................ 19 - 24 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 25 - 26 Interview ........................................................................................................................ 27 - 28
Method ........................................................................................................................................................27 Findings............................................................................................................................................... 27 - 28

Focus Groups ................................................................................................................. 29 - 40

Methods............................................................................................................................................... 29 - 30 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................................31 Red & Black Staff Results .................................................................................................................. 31 - 33 Upperclassmen Results ....................................................................................................................... 33 - 34 Athletes Results................................................................................................................................... 34 - 36 Freshmen Results ................................................................................................................................ 36 - 37 Student Government Association Results ........................................................................................... 37 - 39 Greek Results ...................................................................................................................................... 39 - 40

The Red & Black

Table of Contents
Survey............................................................................................................................. 41 - 66
Method and Samples ........................................................................................................................... 41 - 42 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................................42 Sophomore to Graduate Sample ......................................................................................................... 43 - 44 Sophomore to Graduate Results.......................................................................................................... 44 - 48 Freshmen Sample ........................................................................................................................................49 Freshmen Results ................................................................................................................................ 50 - 52 Distribution E-mails ............................................................................................................................ 52 - 54 Graphs ................................................................................................................................................. 55 - 61 Discussions ......................................................................................................................................... 62 - 66

Content Analysis............................................................................................................ 67 - 73
Methods.......................................................................................................................................................67 Results ................................................................................................................................................. 68 - 69 Discussions ......................................................................................................................................... 69 - 71 Graphs ................................................................................................................................................. 72 - 73

Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 74 - 87
Distribution Boxes ......................................................................................................................................74 News Coverage / Associated Press Subscription ........................................................................................75 Layout ................................................................................................................................................. 76 - 78 Meet and Greet Event ......................................................................................................................... 79 - 80 Article in UGA 101 .....................................................................................................................................81 Self-Promotional Advertisements ....................................................................................................... 81 - 82 Linking Social Media.......................................................................................................................... 82 - 83 Foursqaure........................................................................................................................................... 83 - 85 Internship ............................................................................................................................................ 86 - 87

Gantt Charts .................................................................................................................. 88 - 89 Budget ............................................................................................................................ 90 - 91 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 92 - 93

The Red & Black

Situation Analysis
HISTORY SECTION
The Red & Blacks first issue was published Nov. 24, 1893. At that time the paper was published out of the Universitys Academic Building (now Brooks Hall). Early issues of the paper promoted athletics and cultural activities. In 1895, after some financial troubles and a short suspension of The Red & Black, the Athletic Council took over the weekly paper. Later, in 1928 the paper moved to the new CommerceJournalism Building. In 1968, The Red & Black became The University of Georgias official newspaper. The paper was moved into the College of Journalism and Mass Communications Building where it stayed until it separated from the university and moved off campus in 1980. It was at that time that the newspaper became fully independent, publishing a full-size newspaper five days a week. They were equipped with an alumni advisory board and a student staff. Many distinguished alumni have worked for The Red & Black as students. Among those are recipients of prestigious honors including the Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Awards. (H. Montevideo, personal communication, October 11, 2010).

MISSION
The mission of The Red & Black is to provide a training ground for students interested in gaining experience in various aspects of newspaper publishing and to produce a high quality daily newspaper for the University of Georgia community.

KEY PUBLICS
The Red & Black is a daily, independent student newspaper published for The University of Georgia community. The newspapers most important audience is undergraduate university students, although graduate students, staff, faculty and administrators also read the paper. The main goal of The Red & Black is to reach its audience while on campus through a print edition of the newspaper. Key publics seek The Red & Black for university specific articles relating to news, sports, opinions, entertainment and student life while in Athens, Georgia.

The Red & Black

Situation Analysis
SEGMENTATION
The University of Georgia student body, faculty, administration and staff population breakdown represents the target audience for The Red & Black. The target audience is segmented into:

8,743 graduate students 26,142 undergraduate students

89% In-state students 1% Non-Resident Alien: 61% Women 39% Men 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native 8% Asian/Pacific Islander 8% Black/Non-Hispanic 3% Hispanic 78% White/Non-Hispanic 2% Race/ethnicity unreported

Age: 20 Average High School GPA: 3.8 Income: Upper Middle Class Staff: 10,053

Faculty: 2,890 Administration: 332

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Situation Analysis
PSYCHOGRAPHICS

The general University of Georgia student is typically Caucasian, upper middle class and very smart. Undergraduates are usually involved in one or more of the 600-plus student organizations offered whether it be Greek life, athletic, or non-profit (Center for Student Organizations). The stereotype for University of Georgia undergraduate students is Southern, Republican, beer-drinking and die hard football fans (Princeton Review, 2009, para. 1). However, the University of Georgia has many liberal arts students who do not fit the popular Georgia Football Fans stereotype. There is a social scene for everyone in Athens, Georgia. Downtown Athens provides a great atmosphere with many restaurants, 96 bars and a plethora of shopping destinations (Downtown Athens Its All Here).

Attitudes of The University of Georgia students are seen as friendly and approachable. The positive energy of 30,000 people on the campus at The University of Georgia makes visitors want to become a part of the welcoming atmosphere the university offers. Students have a wide range of interests. Football is a God for The University of Georgia students and you can always find them on Saturdays Between the Hedges of Sanford Stadium. Alumni are also great supporters and boosters for the universitys athletics (College Board, 2009).

Smart phones usage now accounts for 40 percent of mobile media communication devices among college students, which has increase from 27 percent in February 2009. Nine out of 10 students with smart phones access the Internet from their device, compared to less than half of college students who access internet from a feature phone (Ransford).

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Situation Analysis
PAST PUBLICITY EFFORTS
Past publicity efforts by The Red & Black have been very limited. Publisher Harry Montevideo admitted that The Red & Black does not do enough for publicity. The Red & Black mainly seek new readers by word-ofmouth marketing and rely on students seeing other students read the paper to increase readership numbers. Although they rely on word of mouth marketing, they have also done other small events to promote the paper. The Red & Black has a basic booth at orientation for freshmen and transfer students. The Red & Black also publishes a student handbook for incoming students. It is around 75 pages long and The Red & Black logo is on the cover. This handbook is given to incoming freshmen, transfer students and their parents. Several years ago, The Red & Black tried an open house event, which ran over the span of four to six days at the beginning of the school year, but saw low attendance levels. The open house did not seek out student government senators and heads of student organizations to attend. The Red & Black editors also held a meet the editors event on campus one year, but this event was also unsuccessful due to a lack of planning. The Red & Black has tried several methods to promote the newspaper, although it has not devoted many resources to its promotion efforts.

STRENGTHS
The Red & Black is an independently run student newspaper serving The University of Georgia community. Throughout the years The Red & Black staff have acquired numerous prestigious awards and have become a top competitor among collegiate publications. The following are samples of the Society of Professional Journalisms awards that have been given to The Red & Black: Breaking News Reporting, Sports Photography and General News Reporting. The most recent and impressive honor received was as a finalist for the 2010 Associated Collegiate Press/CMA Pacemaker Award. This award is given to online college student publications that are run solely by the students. The awards are critiqued based on the ease of online navigation, graphics and activity, along with writing and editing. The judges are not members of the Associated Collegiate Press, but have a thorough understanding of journalism and interactive media.

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Situation Analysis
The expansive audience base The Red & Black serves allows them to reach an engaged and responsive target audience. This key aspect is one that allows the newspaper to contact a considerable number of university students (34,885) and often times be the sole provider for educational news. The Red & Black is independently owned and financially stable. They have paid off their overhead and have minimal salary expenses. Staff members in The Red & Black focus group expressed their passion and dedication to working at the newspaper. These students have come to The University of Georgia from all across the nation to be a part of this outstanding publication. They truly believe that working at the newspaper allows them to learn and grow in the best possible setting. Another big strength that The Red & Black possesses is their lack of direct competition. They are the main news source covering The University of Georgia and are focused on providing the students with all things UGA. The other local publications such as The Athens Banner-Herald and The Flagpole fail to cover as much university news as The Red & Black. This lack of direct competition gives the newspaper a definite advantage in reaching the students and drawing them into a reliable following. Survey results show that The Red & Black succeeds in providing UGA school news and happenings on campus. Another positive aspect to the paper is that once students start to read the paper, they are not very likely to stop. The students have a strong interest in university news and as a result, make it their main reason for picking up the paper. According to our survey results, seniors are the demographic most likely to pick up the paper multiple times a week. A final strength for The Red & Black is that university students regard the writers at The Red & Black as being a trustworthy staff. Survey results showed that the university campus is trusting and satisfied with the job that the staff does.

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Situation Analysis
WEAKNESSES
Although The Red & Black is a profitable business entity, there are weaknesses surrounding the paper. A major weakness of The Red & Black is its falling distribution. The Red & Black has seen a decrease from 17,000 printed copies at their peak readership to 14,000 printed copies distributed today. Survey results show over a third of the student population pick up the paper only one to two days per week. This decrease in readership can be attributed to a distribution system that does not supply many key areas of campus with enough papers for readers throughout the day. Similarly, they lack boxes at bus stops where students would like to pick up a print copy according to survey results. Advisers also believe low distribution levels could be attributed to a lack of compelling content, which would keep readers off of their mobile devices and social networks. Focus group findings support the idea that students are plugged into the digital spectrum checking The Red & Black online, looking at other news sources and spending time on mobile media. Survey results show that online news is the number one medium students use to get their news. In regards to their lack of compelling content, according to focus group participants, The Red & Black does not offer enough national or world news. This gap in their content coverage is a weakness that the paper can easily fix to attract readers. Survey results show students are interested in news-related articles. By supplying more world, national and local stories, the news-hungry students on campus would not seek these news stories elsewhere as research results show. Another weakness of The Red & Black is their poor reputation on campus with certain segments of the student population. Based on focus groups, Greek community members and athletes think The Red & Black is biased toward their particular groups. They also feel The Red & Black typically reports negative stories that do not paint their organizations in a favorable light. In addition, survey results show that while students like the staff members of The Red & Black and trust them, the students do not feel the staff members are experts at their jobs.

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Situation Analysis
The Red & Black staff focus group participants also explained that the editors do not catch all of the writing style errors and are not always qualified for the position. Survey results support the staffs beliefs. UGA students regard the paper as lacking in expertise. According to advisers Montevideo and McClure, The Red & Black does not utilize their web presence to try to traffic more readers to the print edition. With the advancements in technology and widespread use of the Internet, UGA students expressed in focus groups their preference to get their choice of information at the click of a button. Finally, The Red & Black does not promote in general. The Red & Black is a top collegiate newspaper that has won many prestigious awards, but students are unaware. If the student body was more aware of the worth of the campus newspaper, they might be more likely to pick it up.

OPPORTUNITIES
Being a newspaper for college students The Red & Black offers infinite opportunities that many newspapers do not have. Unlike newspapers geared toward a mass audience, The Red & Black writes for a concentrated readership that seeks out news at a central location. Nearly 45,000 people visit the campus every day and are all potential readers of The Red & Black. More than half of these people make up The Red & Blacks target audience: University of Georgia undergraduate students. According to Harry Montevideo, this allows the writers of The Red & Black to focus on a specific demographic. According to research, students are aware of The Red & Black distribution boxes. More than half the survey respondents reported going by three or more distribution boxes each day. The Red & Black has the opportunity to expand on-and off-campus distribution. Over a third of respondents would like to see a distribution box near the Jittery Joes at Five Points and nearly a third of respondents would utilize a Red & Black distribution box near the Chick-fil-A at Beechwood. Independently, many students mentioned wanting to see boxes at the main bus stops on campus. The Red & Black has the opportunity to utilize the social media channels to reach student readers on online platforms they already use. Although The Red & Black already has both a Facebook and Twitter account,

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Situation Analysis
there is the opportunity to expand upon the complementary multimedia online in addition to the print edition. Sending tweets and posting Facebook updates is an opportunity to urge students to read a specific article in the paper, instead of directly linking a viewer to the online version. This strategy could potentially increase pickup of the print edition. As found in research findings, The Red & Black staff could provide more timely updates via social media for pressing news events. Being in a college town also provides for new readership every year. From incoming freshman to transfers, new students arrive every semester allowing for The Red & Black to continually reinvent itself, and with the majority of students picking up The Red & Black for the first time as freshman (64.9%), The Red & Black has the opportunity to maintain a relationship with the students as they progress through college. According to research, survey respondents main reason for remaining loyal to The Red & Black is to read about UGA news and stay up to date with campus occurrences. From our focus group results, some students missed having national and regional news coverage. However, the staff of The Red & Black did not think students thought the UGA news section was the most important. Based on our research, The Red & Black can broaden its spectrum of news coverage. The Red & Black has the opportunity to do this by either including local, regional and national news, or expanding its UGA news content. The Red & Black covers only university-related stories but they could tie regional and national news to students like the Louisiana State University student newspaper. The proliferation of smart phones on college campuses also presents an opportunity for The Red & Black to connect mobile media with its newspaper. Since smart phones are linked to the Internet, they provide another accessible medium for The Red & Black to provide supplementary content to the print paper. Location-based applications like Foursquare could also be used to drive traffic to the print editions. Advertisements are another area where The Red & Black could maximize awareness and knowledge not only about the college publication but also about the many awards that the paper receives on a yearly basis. Although The Red & Black may announce, in the paper, that it has won an award from a prestigious association, the staff do not devote much attention to the story. Promoting awards through banners, bus cards and other communication materials would promote The Red & Blacks educational mission and prestige to its readers.

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Situation Analysis
THREATS
Although The Red & Black is unique in that they offer news directed toward the student body, faculty and staff of The University of Georgia, survey findings showed that they still compete with other news mediums. Online and mobile media are key competitors for The Red & Black. Based on an article published by Ball State University, smart phones now account for 40 percent of mobile media communication devices amongst college students, up from 38 percent in October 2009 and 27 percent in February 2009 (Ransford). Nine out of ten students with smart phones access the Internet from their device versus less than half with a feature phone (Ransford). Readers who have smart phones can access news conveniently on their own time and may not feel the need to pick up a copy of The Red & Black. This study proves that mobile devices are a prevalent threat towards the print edition. Furthermore, the media habits of The Red & Blacks target population have continued to change. Survey and focus group findings explain that readers are becoming more unfamiliar with newspapers and more reliant on technology to obtain information. According to The Red & Black advisers, The Red & Blacks competition is slim. The only newspaper they feel they are in competition with is the Athens Banner-Herald. According to the focus group results, other print newspaper sources pose a threat, such as the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, The New York Times and USA Today. These newspapers are available on The University of Georgia campus as a part of the collegiate readership program and fill the desire that students have to be knowledgeable consumers of national and world news. The Red & Black discontinued its subscription to the Associated Press in the spring semester of 2009. This could have been a contributing factor to the declining distribution rates. The second threat to the newspaper is the rapid growth of online news media outlets. Our survey results show that online news media use is the number one news outlet used by University of Georgia students. Online media outlets include external news websites, the internal website of The Red & Black and social media websites. The Red & Blacks print edition could be undermined by the newspapers content on its own website. According to focus group findings, readers are drawn to the accessibility of the online version. Some student readers may prefer to read The Red & Black only online and never pick up a print edition.

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Situation Analysis
External news websites including national news organizations such as CNN, Headline News and Fox News are also a threat to the readership of The Red & Black. The print edition is also threatened by the content it places on its social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Users of social media are directed to the online version and do not have any incentive to pick up a print copy. Creating a cross-functional media plan could help reduce this threat.

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Goals and Objectives

Overall Goal: To increase readership of The Red & Black. RESEARCH GOALS
Goal 1: Understand University of Georgia students attitudes toward The Red & Black. Objective: To conduct student focus groups, each containing diverse demographics, by September 22, 2010. Strategy: Recruit from six different student publics. Tactic: Provide incentives for student publics to attend and obtain feedback. Tactic: Create tailored questions for each student public. Tactic: Actively seek out student participants in a manner to accurately reflect the attitudes of the group. Tactic: Create an anonymous response question to obtain a further detailed explanation with full disclosure. Goal 2: Understand content preferences and media habits of University of Georgia students. Objective: To administer 2,100 surveys to UGA students and receive a 20 percent response rate by October 26, 2010. Strategy: To administer an e-mail survey to all upperclassmen students including graduate students. Tactic: Secure Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for survey distribution.

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Goals and Objectives

Tactic: Obtain a list of randomized university students e-mails from Dr. Lariscy and Dr. Sweetser. Tactic: Provide incentives for student publics to answer survey. Tactic: Send out a random sample to 1,500 e-mails. Tactic: Send out a reminder e-mail four days later. Strategy: To administer an e-mail survey to all freshmen students. Tactic: Secure Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for survey distribution. Tactic: Obtain list of randomized university students e-mails from Dr. Lariscy and Dr. Sweetser. Tactic: Provide incentives for student publics to answer survey. Tactic: Send out a random sample to 1,000 e-mails. Tactic: Send out a reminder e-mail four days later. Goal 3: Obtain primary research relating to the content of The Red & Black. Objective: To qualitatively content analyze six weeks of the print publication of The Red & Black by October 11, 2010. Strategy: Assign each group member one full week to analyze the content of The Red & Black. Tactic: Categorize which student groups were mentioned daily and count their frequency. Tactic: Categorize what topics were mentioned daily and count their frequency. Tactic: Strategically compare the content of The Red & Black for the same publishing dates as The Daily Reveille.

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Goals and Objectives

Goal 4: Obtain secondary research relating to the content of another SEC university newspaper. Objective: To qualitatively content analyze five weeks of The Daily Reveille, LSUs independent student newspaper by October 11, 2010. Strategy: Assign each group member one full week to analyze the content of The Daily Reveille. Tactic: Categorize which student groups were mentioned daily and count its frequency. Tactic: Categorize what topics were mentioned daily and count its frequency. Tactic: Strategically compare the content of The Daily Reveille for the same publishing dates as The Red & Black. Goal 5: Obtain secondary research about academic and trade literature regarding college newspapers. Objective: To understand what academic and trade literature are saying about U.S. college newspapers in the past five years by October 12, 2010. Strategy: Review academic research articles regarding the characteristics, opportunities and challenges of college newspapers. Tactic: Use the UGA librarys search engines to search academic articles about college newspapers. Tactic: Read at least 12 academic articles about college newspapers. Our research included the following journals: Newspaper Research Journal, Journalism Quarterly, and Mass Communication and Society.

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Goals and Objectives

AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE AND CREDIBILITY GOALS
Goal 1: Increase awareness of The Red & Black. Objective: To distribute 15,000 newspapers by March 2011. Strategy: Monitor the daily pick-up rate of The Red & Black distribution boxes around the UGA campus. Tactic: Review The Red & Blacks previous daily reports that show the average rate of return per each distribution box throughout the campus. Tactic: Locate the distribution boxes that have the highest pick-up rate per day and monitor the time frame when the box becomes empty. Tactic: Transfer print copies from the least visited distribution boxes to those that see the highest level of traffic. Tactic: Create a Foursquare account that provides incentives for readers to pick up The Red & Black at distribution boxes with the least amount of traffic. Objective: To increase the frequency of print copy readership of The Red & Black from one to two days per week to three to four days per week by December 2011. Strategy: Formulate a public relations campaign to increase awareness. Tactic: Create advertisements to place in the UGA buses to make students more aware of their school newspaper. Tactic: Write feature stories to be printed in The Red & Black about the honors and awards the paper has received.

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Goals and Objectives

Tactic: Include informational material about The Red & Black in the UGA 101 brochure distributed at freshman orientation. Tactic: Create a script about The Red & Black that orientation leaders can use to educate incoming freshmen and transfer students. Objective: To increase online support of The Red & Black through the number of Twitter followers by 10 percent, from 4,053 followers to 4,459 followers, by March 2011. Strategy: Create a position that assigns one person per semester to oversee the social media websites. Tactic: Publicize the Twitter page in the printed Red & Black. Tactic: Facilitate ongoing conversation between The Red & Black and its followers on Twitter. Objective: To increase online support of The Red & Black through the number of Facebook fans by 500 percent, from 19 likes to 95 likes by March 2011. Strategy: Create a position which assigns one person per semester to oversee the social media websites. Tactic: Create a fan page contest encouraging students to actively participate in discussions regarding the current content of The Red & Black Tactic: Target users who are fans of other news sources comparable to The Red & Black.

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Goals and Objectives

Goal 2: Improve credibility of The Red & Black. Objective: To improve The Red & Blacks trustworthiness and expertise among students by one step on a seven-item Likert scale by March 2011. Strategy: Plan events that connect The Red & Black staff with key university leaders and organizations. Tactic: To put on a Get to know your Red & Black Staff event including all editors and UGA organization leaders by March 2011. Tactic: Create a pamphlet for the incoming class highlighting the prestigious Red & Black awards. Objective: To create a targeted content plan for The Red & Black based on students survey responses by December 2010. Strategy: To educate The Red & Black staff on the desires of the student population. Tactic: Use SPSS to analyze and support the survey findings. Tactic: To create a list of content that students would and would not like to see covered in the newspaper. Tactic: Include a report representing the students positive and negative feelings towards The Red & Black. Tactic: Propose a consistent daily layout that includes labeled sections.

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Literature Review
LITERATURE REvIEW
College newspapers often enjoy a strong following among university students. In one past study, threequarters of college students loyally read the campus newspaper nearly every day (Bressers & Bergen, 2002). However, by being free and highly relevant, campus newspapers can reach an audience of people who may never read a newspaper after graduating (Collins & Armstrong, 2008). Furthermore, college students prefer their campus newspaper even when provided with free versions of local papers. In a survey of students at the University of Florida, Collins and Armstrong (2008) found that more students read the campus newspaper four days a week than those who read a free copy of local newspaper even once during the week. To support this past research, most students on college campuses read their universitys newspaper (Collins & Armstrong, 2008; Thurlow & Milo, 2003). However, students are more likely to read their college newspaper and hold different opinions based on several main mediating factors. Students who are already familiar with newspapers will be more likely to read their college newspaper and find it more credible (Armstrong & Collins, 2009). Additionally, increased exposure to a newspaper will enhance its credibility and college students who are naturally interested in news find newspapers in general to be more credible (Armstrong & Collins, 2008). Other research has shown that college students will be more likely to read the weekly community newspapers, but still not read the daily community newspapers. Thurlow and Milo (1993) state this is because the community weekly newspaper and college newspapers are free, while the local daily papers are not. In Collins & Armstrongs (2009) study, only one in ten students said they would pay for a newspaper after graduation. Newspapers as a whole have not been able to capture the college-aged audience after graduation. Student newspapers have also had strong support from their publication advisers. In fact, many advisers believe college newspapers should publish stories that might embarrass the university even if the story is factually correct (Ryan & Martinson, 1986). Many college newspaper advisers think the university should not censor material regardless of financial support given from universities to student newspapers. Advisers

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Literature Review
want students to practice their first amendment rights. With the support of newspaper advisers, the student newspaper has become an invaluable place where budding journalists learn about freedom of the press. According to the researchers, even the threat of censorship can inhibit a college newspaper from publishing news stories. For this reason, a student newspapers credibility relies on the interaction between university administration and young reporters (Watts & Wernsman, 1997). At many colleges, administrators can censor news stories and student reporters rely on administrators for information. Cooperation between the two sides is essential. In addition, college newspapers prominently cover university administration and campus occurrences. One study suggests daily college newspapers primarily cover campus administrative news, with 40 percent of their total coverage coming from administrative functions, senate meetings, student government proceedings and actions of campus governing bodies (Gibson, 1991). Cover of other campus-oriented news such as clubs and groups comprise another 18.5 percent. University administrators who are interviewed at least once a week have a higher satisfaction level with their colleges newspapers (Watts & Wernsman, 1997). On the other hand, administrators who are not interviewed as frequently and university public relations staff do not enjoy college newspapers as much. Many of the people in this group identified student reporters as poorly prepared and unprofessional. The biggest issues administration had with student reporters were misstatements of fact, misleading headlines, omitted information and misquotes. For all their strengths from a staunch belief in freedom of the press to an engaged audience college newspapers have encountered the frustrations as much of their readership audience moves online. Colleges across the country are reluctant to place their news content on the Internet. For many of them, the financial rewards of print advertisers far outweigh revenue gained from putting content online (Corrigan, 2009). However, college newspapers have so far performed better than many national print newspapers since they offer a free or cheap product to a large, active audience.

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Interview
METHOD FOR INTERvIEW WITH DR. BARRY HOLLANDER
We interviewed Dr. Barry Hollander to compare a knowledgeable journalism professors view of the credibility of The Red & Black with student focus groups and the survey results. Our main goal was to learn the opinions of a professional journalist about UGAs student newspaper, The Red & Black. We asked about his opinions on content coverage, credibility, and any additions or substitutions he would make if he were the editor. In the 30-minute interview, we discussed weak and strong days for newspaper readers, newspaper competition and what it takes to be quality news material. Also, we discussed why The Red & Black should be independently student-run. Comparing students opinions and those of a professional journalist allowed us to create the best strategies for The Red & Black to make it more appealing and reliable for University of Georgia students.

DR. HOLLANDER INTERvIEW RESEARCH FINDINGS

Competition Dr. Hollander felt that the Athens Banner-Herald is the only competition The Red & Black really faces. He said the local newspaper has only one reporter who covers the UGA campus, so it is not much of a true threat. His opinion is that The Red & Black is too straight forward with their stories and could be less conservative in its news coverage. Dr. Hollander agrees with the athletes observations that The Red & Black sports writers are uneducated. He agrees that the sports reporters at The Red & Black do not know enough about what they are writing about, therefore leaving them with stories that are not well-written. Dr. Hollander thinks this is the only reason students might go to the Athens Banner-Herald instead of The Red & Black.

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Interview
Independent is best Dr. Hollander felt that it was a very positive aspect for UGA to have a newspaper independently run from the school. If the paper began to lose money, it would not be the schools responsibility to cover the newspapers costs. If the students write articles negatively reflecting the administration, UGA administrators cannot fire student writers or censor material in retaliation. The students are solely in charge. What goes in the paper is the ultimate decision of the editor-in-chief of The Red & Black. The professional advisor does not make any final decisions. In Dr. Hollanders opinion, it would be a mistake for The Red & Black to not be independently student-run. What students want to see in The Red & Black The things that attract the eye of a university student according to Dr. Hollander are: sex, booze, football, where to go Thursdays, what to do on their off time and where to find tests. He says this is what The Red & Black has to write about to make students want to read it. He is a huge fan of the Friday sex column and feels it is helpful for guys and girls. Dr. Hollander said The Red & Black is not allowed to publish a column about drinking anymore after being reprimanded by the school. Journalism and The Red & Black Dr. Hollander views The Red & Black as a credible news source. He says that in journalism, people are always going to hate you. Students in Greek associations are going to hate you wherever you go, because they always have drinking stories that make the front page. Dr. Hollander said that people have to realize if 5,000 planes land safely it is not a news story. If one plane crashes that is news. He says that liberals always see a paper as too conservative and conservatives will always see a paper as too liberal. Both parties will perceive the newspaper to be biased. Writers should not be supportive of any one side. Dr. Hollander feels The Red & Black should have a focus every day to figure out how to get students to ask the question Did you read The Red & Black today?

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Focus Groups
FOCUS GROUPS METHODS
We decided to conduct six focus groups to better understand the beliefs and perceptions of The Red & Black by certain organizations at the University of Georgia. As a qualitative research method, focus groups stimulate discussion among students about The Red & Black. The results provide descriptive information about The Red & Black and helped the researchers identify themes before using quantitative research methods. We knew we wanted to conduct a focus group with both freshmen and upperclassmen groups. Our review of past research provided by The Red & Black also helped us identify three other main stakeholders: Greek life community, student government association and student athletes. Finally, we wanted to learn the opinions about The Red & Black from the general student population. Our group worked on a moderators guide together before several team members refined it. Each moderators guide provided the basic structure for the focus groups, but we also added questions unique to each group as well. We structured the focus groups to discuss general media habits for about one-third of the time and The Red & Black material for about two-thirds of the time. In addition, we created a moderators guide unique to The Red & Black staff focus group since the nature of those questions differed from students outside of The Red & Black. The moderators guides are found in the appendix. Each focus group was led by a moderator and conducted over a two-week period in September. Although head moderators led the discussions, our group members often participated as well, adding to the discussion. When discussion stagnated after the moderator asked a question, the moderator would probe by suggesting ideas as responses. 9.14.2010 Student Government focus group. Moderated by Ben Benson. Sample method: We conducted a focus group with student government volunteers following a student government meeting.

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Focus Groups
9.14.2010 Athlete focus group. Moderated by Collins Johnson. Sample method: We recruited football players, swimmers and track and field athletes to participate in the focus group following the normal athlete mentoring sessions. 9.15.2010 Greek Life focus group. Moderated by Collins Johnson. Sample method: We e-mailed sorority and fraternity presidents, sent invitations over Listservs and recruited from peers. 9.19.2010 Freshmen focus group. Moderated by Ashley Teale. Sample method: We recruited freshmen who were near the dorms on West Campus. 9.21.2010 The Red & Black staff focus group. Moderated by Ben Benson. Sample method: Harry Montevideo and Natalie McClure hand-selected students to partake in this focus group. 9.22.2010 Upperclassmen focus group. Moderated by Stefanie DiLegge. Sample method: We recruited friends and peers to partake in the upperclassmen sample. Students were chosen not to overlap with other groups of students already interviewed. We provided pizza and drinks at each focus group to encourage people to participate. Every participant in the focus groups signed a consent form to allow us to use him or her in our study, as well as allow us to record each focus group. Each participant also took a consent form to keep for their records. All participant information is anonymous and students are identified only by a number. We recorded the focus groups using a flip camera. Afterward, we transcribed the focus groups audio from our video recordings.

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Focus Groups
LIMITATIONS
We did not use random samples to recruit students for the focus groups. Our primary method involved asking friends, acquaintances and student leaders to help us recruit people for our focus groups. Therefore, the results from the focus group are not representative of the total University of Georgia student population and we cannot generalize the results beyond the focus group findings. Additionally, focus groups provide qualitative data. Qualitative research does not allow us to conduct statistical analysis on the results like quantitative research. Furthermore, focus group results can change depending on the participants in the focus group. Sometimes one participant can heavily influence the discussion by dominating the conversation. Participants can also react differently to the focus group moderator. Focus group discussion can change drastically depending on the moderator and other participants.

RESULTS The Red & Black Staff

Heavy Media Users The Red & Black staff members are heavy news users. Many of them are always reading news to stay connected and use multiple news outlets to acquire a wide breadth of information. In addition, the staff felt a need to be in constant touch with the 24/7 news cycle. The newspaper staff wants to be knowledgeable about every major news item. One staff member even mentioned it was embarrassing when he did not know about a major news topic. Working at The Red & Black Staff members take their positions at The Red & Black seriously. Combined with journalism classes from Grady College, The Red & Black is seen as a natural stepping stone into the real world after college. Each day, The Red & Black staff put hours of labor into creating a daily newspaper. Many staff members frequently stay up late to publish the paper on time and then pick up the finished product the next day on campus. One top editor said it hurts when he sees students open the paper, only to turn to the crossword puzzle and skip the news stories.

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Focus Groups

Many of the focus group members were editors and not staff writers. The editors said that staff writers often do not take their duty as seriously. Some writers work for The Red & Black to build their resume, while others write for fun and extra money. Still, from the participants in the focus group, they feel that The Red & Black is successfully preparing them for the working world. Competition Some staff members feel that The Red & Black competes with Flagpole and the Athens Banner-Herald. Therefore, they feel like it is their duty to constantly stay informed about the competition. Whether this competition is perceived or real, the students always keep tabs on the two local papers. Staff Perceptions of Student Readers Staff members thought student readers choose The Red & Black for many different reasons. The editors brought up the sports, opinions and campus news sections. However, several staff members thought the opinions pages are a definite attraction for students, since the opinion section operates as a public forum for the student body. Students can write letters to The Red & Black and share their opinions with their peers. One editor also thought The Red & Blacks creative approach such as the First and Goal or Wheres Mikey? features presented news that attracted students. The staff believes The Red & Blacks independence is a strong point of its reputation among students as well. Although staff members did not mention coverage of The University of Georgia administration to be an important topic for student readers, they think students appreciate their ability to trim official administration statements to the relevant facts. While one student brought up that she thought that The Red & Black offered a sense of community for the campus, another student anonymously wrote for the last question that he felt there is a wall between The Red & Black and the campus. Additionally, one student mentioned that transfer students love The Red & Black compared to campus newspapers at their former universities.

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Focus Groups
The Red & Black Online Newspaper To the students in the focus group, the online version of the newspaper is an afterthought compared to the printed product. Additionally, the Twitter and Facebook pages purely replicate the online and print versions. The social media platforms are viewed as a necessary resource only during times of breaking news, such as when there is a potential shooter on campus. Other students thought The Red & Blacks website needed an interactive aspect, either in the form of expanded video reports or article comments.

Upperclassmen
Newspaper Convenience According to the upperclassman focus group, the news outlets that attract the most attention are the outlets that are the most convenient. They often read online news due to its accessibility and easy clean-up. One participant explicitly explained the way she hates dealing with The Red & Black because of the low quality ink that is used. She explained that the ink, early in the morning, will get on her hands and ultimately end up on her shirt or face (due to touching her face with ink covered hands) by the end of the day. Each student also voiced the inconvenience of carrying around a paper and it being a nuisance in a classroom when flipping through the large pages. The Red & Black Content When reading the paper, the biggest downfall that the participants felt The Red & Black has is an inability to write articles that truly mean something to the students. For example, although one student enjoys reading the Crime Notebook, he feels that close to 50 percent of the articles in the paper are write-ups that he cares nothing about. Another participant agreed that she does not read many, if any, of the articles in the paper, yet she thoroughly enjoys the Thursday event calendar. She feels that it captures a side of Athens that she would unlikely find if going about it on her own. All three upperclassman agreed that the headlines of many articles are what turn him or her away from reading a surely well-written article. They believed the headlines to be particularly boring and uninteresting.

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Focus Groups
The Tuesday Coupon Corner is another aspect of the paper that the upperclassman utilize. Each student felt that the coupons were useful to them, yet some felt a few of the franchises and coupon offers are less convenient to use than others and suggested using businesses closer to the university, as well as downtown boutiques. The Red & Blacks Credibility Even though the students normally gather their news from other outlets than The Red & Black, each student believed the paper to be a credible news source. One student stated that he believes almost anything that the paper publishes about local and sports news although he did state that he would check another news outlet in case he wanted to use the article as a source. Online Use All participants said that they did not utilize the online version of The Red & Black nor did any of them follow the paper on Twitter or on Facebook. A particular participant works with The Red & Black for her job and dislikes the online archives of the paper. She states that it is very difficult to navigate through and trying to find articles is impossible since the papers are not in any kind of chronological order.

Athletes
Fastest Way to Sports News When seeking news, not surprisingly, athletes go to their closest sports news source. Some student athletes go straight to ESPN.com. Others prefer the convenience of turning on their TV to SportsCenter on ESPN. After walking on campus, most athletes admitted, even though they feel The Red & Black coverage is negative about athletics, they still pick up a copy daily. One student stated that it would be more convenient for athletes to read The Red & Black if there was a newspaper box at the Coliseum bus stop, where athletes typically go to catch a bus after workouts. Credible News Source The athletes did not view The Red & Black as a credible news source. Many of the student athletes explained that they had been interviewed in the past and, when their interview was printed in The Red & Black, it was distorted to how the reporter wanted the athlete to look rather than how they actually

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Focus Groups
responded to the questions asked. Several athletes said that they had been misquoted in The Red & Black. Athletes feel like the sports reporters for The Red & Black have never played a sport in their lives. They also feel that the reporters are uneducated about the sports they write about. Content Coverage The University of Georgias football players feel like The Red & Black staff is full of negativity. One athlete used an example of a story The Red & Black published last season degrading Joe Cox for how he played the game. The participants of the focus group argued that Cox is not a paid athlete; therefore, the newspaper should not degrade him for doing his best. Another football player stated that the football team understood how the story of A.J. Green selling his jersey made headlines, but they do not feel there is a need to put down student-athletes for their best performances. The football players felt that The Red & Black feeds off bashing the football program, from Joe Cox last year to the beginning of Mark Richts 2010 season with a 1-4 record. Also, placing any football arrest on the front page is unnecessary in their opinion. Other university athletes that are not football players felt that The Red & Black ignore other team sports. One track athlete voiced that he picked up the paper everyday knowing that The Red & Black would not be covering highlights of track and field. Other athletes feel like they are lucky to find one sentence in The Red & Black covering their sports events from the past day. One swimmer felt that his team would have to win a national championship to have an article in The Red & Black containing more than a few sentences. The Athletic Association and The Red & Black The football players felt that the Athletic Association at The University of Georgia should not get involved with The Red & Black. They do not feel the Athletic Association should support The Red & Black staff when they write so much negativity about the athletic programs. Football players do not think The Red & Black deserves any recognition from the athletic association. Other student-athletes did not see ads paid by the Athletic Association for sports other than football as a bad idea. Student athletes liked the idea of a daily schedule of sports events; students would then know what teams had events going on that day.

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Focus Groups
The football players felt that the Athletic Association could advertise georgiadogs.com in The Red & Black. Other student athletes agreed that the Athletic Association could advertise georgiadogs.com. However, they felt that advertising sports other than football in The Red & Black would be better.

Freshmen
Convenience is Key When seeking news, freshman students choose sources that are most convenient for them. Almost all freshmen stated that the Internet made it extremely easy to stay updated on current news and they can locate stories they look for with various search engines. After the Internet, the freshman students said that they would turn on the television or, if a copy of The Red & Black is nearby, pick up a copy of the newspaper to find news. If the students walk by a Red & Black box or there is one placed outside of their classroom, they were twice as likely to pick up a print copy. Newspapers vs. Social Media The freshmen students had varying reasons regarding why they do or do not read The Red & Black. One student explained that he was not exposed to newspapers since his parents did not read them. For this reason, he was more likely to locate news online or on television. Another student mentioned the idea of high school newspapers as a print medium exposure. Most of the students high schools offered a monthly newspaper, which they read regularly. The Red & Black is an extension of this habit, but students find themselves too busy on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to pick up a copy of The Red & Black. Freshmen admitted, linking The Red & Black to social media outlets may entice them to become more interested in both social media and the print edition of The Red & Black. Credible News Source Freshman regarded The Red & Black as a very credible news source. They felt that the newspaper adequately covered The University of Georgia students and school-related news. One student mentioned that he was very impressed with The Red & Blacks website and their blogs. Overall, all of the students felt that the paper credibly covered topics that related specifically to them.

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Focus Groups
For opinions from other students, the newspaper was also considered a great place to see what they were thinking and what they wanted from the university. The one concern the freshman expressed was the lack of national news. They felt that while The Red & Black covered all of The University of Georgias news, it failed to cover national news. This was something they felt was important for students to be informed on. Newspaper Content The freshmen students had numerous opinions on what they would like to see covered in The Red & Black. The event calendar is very important to the freshman students. They felt that there is so much going on around campus that a daily breakdown of events is something that would help them get more involved and know of events occurring around campus. The students were not concerned with weather coverage. Students agreed that if they wanted to know the weather, most of them would simply go to Weather.com and look for themselves. While the Tuesday Coupon Corner was a feature they liked, many of the students agreed that they didnt really take full advantage of it since they were all on the meal plan. In sports-related news, the freshman were interested in UGA sports news, but, when it came to other SEC news, almost all of them said if they were interested in other schools they would visit ESPN.com. One student who is a heavy sports news consumer said he would really like to see a SEC sports section so he could keep up with other schools sports programs and UGAs competition.

Student Government Association

Media Habits Members of the student government association at The University of Georgia mainly consume their news online. They enjoy the format of online media because it is easy to use and visually pleasing to the eye. These students spend, on average, 30 minutes per day consuming news and they all said that they read The Red & Black on a consistent basis. Students admit that if they see other people reading the paper they are more likely to pick up a copy; however, they often just go online to look at the information rather than going to pick up a hard copy.

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Focus Groups
Consumers of World News Students in the student government association are consumers of world news. However, since The Red & Black does not cover national or world news they have learned to go to other news sources for this information. A student representative said, I liked [The Red & Black] a lot more when they subscribed to the Associated Press and they had it was always a page two or three world news stories. But from what I understand that is too expensive and they got rid of that. Credibility of The Red & Black Regarding the credibility of The Red & Black, SGA members said that it was credible for the purpose that it serves. They like that it serves the purpose of informing the student community, but said that as a paper reporting mainly on football games, it didnt need to have as much credibility as a newspaper that would be reporting on national and world news stories. Students compared it to larger newspapers and said that The Red & Black is not as credible as other main newspapers. One student said that it will always have the stigma of not being the best. Regarding coverage of SGA in The Red & Black Students in SGA think that The Red & Black does a good job reporting events that are held by their association. However, when it comes to reporting on what the student government association is doing, as far as resolutions and projects, they feel that they are generally negatively portrayed. SGA blames The Red & Black as a major cause for why students on campus have a negative image of their association. All students agreed that when student government campaigning is occurring, The Red & Black adequately reports the flaws within parties and keeping the student body informed. They thought that reporting on student campaigns reflects on student government as a whole, even though the parties are not yet representing the student government association. SGA members agreed the opinions section is far more negative than the general news stories. They also specifically referenced a time when The Red & Black covered what SGA was working on to positively affect the campus and turned it around to make the student government association look poorly.

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Focus Groups
One student summed up the feelings of the group when he said, There is positive stuff. But the negative, even if it doesnt out number the positive, it outweighs. Like even if there are 500 words positive and 20 words negative, people read the negative. And in their mind that is what sticks, and I am not saying that there should never be any negative, I mean that is what they are there for, but I dont know it should be the same proportion to what we deserve. Newspaper content in The Red & Black Students in the student government association at The University of Georgia would like to see The Red & Black become a member of the Associated Press. Students are pleased with the entertainment section of the newspaper. The students also felt the sports sections of the newspaper reflected the student interests, but agreed that it was heavily saturated with football stories. They mentioned they liked that The Red & Black covers stories on volleyball and golf. Students also mentioned that they go to www.georgiadogs.com to find news on other sports teams such as the swimming and diving team. Regarding the weather section of the newspaper, students said that the daily forecast did not really help them because by the time they got to campus, it didnt matter. They agreed that a small weekly forecast bar would be beneficial. All students were unaware of the Tuesday Coupon Corner. The main reasons that students picked up the paper include crossword puzzles, crime and campus news coverage.

Greek
Media Habits The members of the Greek community at The University of Georgia are consumers of online news. The students expressed that the reason they turn to online news media is for its convenience. The news is constantly updated and they can choose the stories they wish to consume. Another student explained that mobile media allows them to use applications that take them directly to the site and source they wish to consume. Convenience in content choice, availability and ease were major concerns for the Greek community.

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Focus Groups
Consumers of Sports and News The two types of articles the Greek focus group participants look for are sports and national or world news articles. The Red & Black does not offer national or world news articles on a regular basis which is why the students will not pick up a copy of the paper for those stories. However, the Greek members feel that The Red & Black does a good job covering UGA sports, which is a main reason Greeks pick up a paper. Credibility of The Red & Black The members of the Greek community do not feel that The Red & Black is a credible news outlet. Many have heard stories from professors and friends that select details in stories have been fabricated, exaggerated and simply incorrect. Since students have had connections to people who have experienced inaccuracies with The Red & Black, the Greek members do not believe it is a credible source. In addition to The Red & Black lacking credibility, the Greeks also feel that they are misrepresented in most stories published. Many of the Greeks expressed that they feel attacked in the paper and that The Red & Black publishes completely biased stories about the Greek community. One Greek student noted that a friend who works for The Red & Black does not share with the staff that she is a Greek member because of the ridicule Greeks get in the office. If The Red & Black were to be more balanced in the coverage of the Greek community, the Greek students would be more likely to pick up the paper.

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Survey
E-MAIL SURvEY METHOD AND SAMPLE
We used an e-mail survey of students at The University of Georgia to better understand students opinions and beliefs about The Red & Black. The focus groups conducted prior to the e-mail survey helped guide our questions for the survey. Using Likert scales, we asked students about their beliefs on the credibility, objectivity and professionalism of The Red & Black. Students also ranked their favorite sections of The Red & Black. Additionally, we wanted to know if students had stopped reading The Red & Black and if so, why. The full survey instrument, survey e-mails, and reminder e-mails can be found in the appendix. Surveys have several advantages, including relatively low costs to deploy and develop. In particular, online surveys provide greater ease of collection and analysis. Surveys produce fast results that are generalizable to a whole population once analyzed. Results collected from the questions serve to illustrate relationships between variables. For this study, it seemed logical to pose questions to UGA students over the Internet. In addition, traditional paper surveys can often be costly and time consuming, resources the researchers did not have. There are drawbacks to using an online survey. Respondents can abandon online surveys in the middle without completing the questions, while a full or nonexistent inbox may cause may fail to deliver the e-mail invitation. In some cases, respondents may e-mail the survey to individuals outside of the sample group, producing a demographic different from that originally selected by researchers. Finally, e-mail surveys may prove less effective if potential respondents do not check their e-mail regularly or do not open messages from people they do not know. In any survey, respondents may lack sufficient incentive to participate; therefore, the method is prone to false self-reporting. However, given that the subject matter measured in this study was of a personal and subjective nature, a survey was deemed the most appropriate method to carry out this study. The survey allows us to generalize to the entire population since it is a random sample. Internal validity came from using traditional marketing scales to measure professionalism, credibility, trustworthiness and objectivity. All questions on the survey instrument were approved by Dr. Lariscy and The Red & Black prior to being deployed.

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Survey
Data gathered was numerically coded in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for analysis after we collected all survey responses.

LIMITATIONS
We distributed our surveys in two waves to accommodate the time constraints within the semester. While our survey results allow us to make comparisons between UGA freshmen and upperclassmen, we can use only descriptive statistics to compare the two samples. Therefore, we cannot use statistical tests to analyze the differences between freshmen and upperclassmen in one sample. Although both of our samples combined represent the entire student body, our sampling method does not provide one sample that represents the entire student body at The University of Georgia. Additionally, we had to make changes to the survey e-mail and the reminder e-mail for the freshmen sample based on recommendations from the Institutional Review Board. Although our questions stayed the same for both sample groups, the differences in e-mails could change the response rate or the results between the surveys. Finally, the freshmen survey was not open for the same amount of time as the upperclassmen survey. The time table for our campaigns project did not allow us to keep the freshmen sample open more than one week and we had to deploy the survey on different days than the upperclassmen sample. These factors could also change the response rate between the two samples.

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Survey
FIRST WAvE SOPHOMORE TO GRADUATE STUDENT SAMPLE
The sample of 1,493 students was taken from a list of UGA students from the 2009-2010 academic year. The Office of the Registrar had not yet released the student contact list for the 2010-2011 academic year when we deployed the survey. All students in the sample were provided with an incentive to participate in the survey. We had 10 gift certificates for $50 available to use in Downtown Athens. Students provided their e-mail addresses at the end of the survey and we selected winners from this pool of students. According to the UGA Office of Institutional Research, 26 percent of students graduated from UGA in the 2009-2010 academic year. Because of this, our current valid student population in the sample is estimated to be 1,103. We used this estimate to calculate the response rate for this survey. Two students had deactivated their UGA e-mail accounts. We removed these two from the valid sample. With a total of 1,493 randomly sampled students, we wanted to achieve a 15 percent response rate. Given our estimated final valid sample of 1,103, we wanted to receive 166 responses total. After eight days, we received 151 responses for an estimated final response rate of 13.7 percent. Sample One Sample Two Sample Three Total Bounced e-mails Valid Sample Expected 26% graduation rate Estimated valid Sample Total Response Response Rate 498 Students 497 Students 498 Students 1,493 Students 2 e-mail addresses 1,491 Students 1,491 Students * .74 Student Retention Rate 1,103 Students 151 13.7%

We distributed the samples through Gmail on two customized e-mail accounts named UGA Newspaper Research. Gmail has a cap limit of the number of recipients it can send to each day. The limit is supposed to be 500 people. However, each sample is slightly below the 500 threshold since Gmail would fail to send the e-mail when it had 500 recipients in the blind carbon copy send box.

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Survey
Students in sample one and sample two each received the survey e-mail on the same day. Recipients in sample three received the survey e-mail one day later due to Gmails 500-recipient limit. Students had five days to respond to the survey before we sent a reminder e-mail to the list. The reminder e-mail was a shortened version of the initial e-mail. As with the initial survey e-mail, samples one and two received the reminder e-mail first due to Gmails limit. Students in sample three received the reminder email two days later. All data were collected by Survey Monkey and stored on Survey Monkeys servers until we downloaded the information on Oct. 12, 2010. Students could respond to the survey from Oct. 3, 2010, to Oct. 11, 2010.

SOPHOMORE TO GRADUATE STUDENT SURvEY RESULTS

Demographics Of the 151 respondents, the majority (67.4 %) were females with the remaining respondents (32.6%) being males. Respondents ranged from ages 18 to 52 with a median age of 21. The mode was 20-years-old. The largest numbers of respondents (33.8%) were seniors, followed by graduate students (23.7 %), juniors (22.3 %) and sophomores (19.4%). Media Use Students were asked to rank from the most important to the least important media outlets they use to gather news, with one being first choice and eight being their last choice. The majority of students use online news (M = 2.58) as their primary news outlet. The next preferred news outlets are ranked from most important to least important: television (M = 3.27), social media (M = 3.52), The Red & Black (M = 4.24), print newspaper (M = 4.39), radio (M = 4.81) and magazines (M = 5.15). Of the 151 respondents, the majority (64.9%) started reading The Red & Black during their freshman year. The next most frequent student years for beginning to read The Red & Black are, respectively, graduate students (10.6%), sophomore year (6.0%), junior year (5.3%) and senior year (1.3%). Those who do not read (4.0%) The Red & Black ranked above only the senior class group.

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Students were then asked what medium they use to read The Red & Black. The majority (60.7%) of respondents read the print edition of The Red & Black. The next largest segment of students (22.0%) read The Red & Black both online and print. Less than one in ten students (9.3%) do not read The Red & Black. One-third of the respondents (35.8%) pick up a print copy of The Red & Black one to two days a week. A few students (13.9%) pick up the paper every day. A quarter (27.2%) of students pick up the paper three to four times a week. Less than a quarter (23.2%) of students never read a print copy. We tested if there were differences among grade levels for how often students read the print newspaper. Sophomores and juniors showed no difference compared to the normal student for how often they picked up the print edition of The Red & Black. However, seniors are the most likely student group to pick up the print version of The Red & Black most frequently at a statistically significant level; t (137) = -3.142, p =.002. Furthermore, graduate students reported picking up the print edition least often during the week at a statistically significant level; t (137) = 5.070, p < .001). A one-way ANOVA was used to test if there was a difference between gender and how long students spent reading The Red & Black. The results were not statistically different; F (1,136) = .255, p = .614. The Red & Black Sections Students were asked to rank what they felt to be the most important sections in The Red & Black. The most important was UGA news (M = 2.53). Following UGA News, students ranked the following in order from most important to least important: Crime (M = 3.77), Sports (M = 4.04), Variety (M = 4.05), Puzzles (M = 4.53), Opinions (M = 4.84), Coupons (M = 5.28) and Classifieds (M = 6.16). There were few differences in regard to gender and importance of sections in The Red & Black. Males preferred the Sports section more than females at a statistically significant level; t (129) = 2.771, p = .006. At a .10 significance level, males ranked Opinions higher; t (126) = 1.666, p = .098. Also at a .10 significance level, females ranked Coupons higher than males; t (122) = -1.905, p = .059. There were no other differences between genders and how they ranked sections of the newspaper. Each grade level was divided into its own group, so we could make comparisons across grade levels. We wanted to see if preferences for the content in The Red & Black changed with grade level among sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students. We did not include freshmen in this analysis since we deployed the freshmen survey separately.

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Sophomores and juniors showed no differentiating preferences at a statistically significant level compared to other class levels. However, seniors were more likely to rank crime lower compared to other grade levels at a statistically significant level; t (126) = -2.276, p = .026. Graduate students nearly differed at a .05 statistically significant level for ranking classifieds higher; t (115) = 1.967, p = .052. The survey results also highlight how certain sections go together for readers. Sections that show a negative correlation align in terms of ordered preference of The Red & Black sections. The Variety section was significantly and negatively correlated with: UGA news (r = -2.24, p < .05) and Puzzles (r = -.237, p < .001). The Crime section was significantly and negatively correlated with Sports (r= -.408, p < .001) and Puzzles (r = -.289, p < .001). The Opinions section was significantly and negatively correlated with Coupons (r = -.220, p < .05), Puzzles (r = -.330, p < .001) and Classifieds (r = -.248, p < .001). Coupons were significantly and negatively correlated with UGA news (r = -.328, p < .001). Although students found each section worthy of reading, paying for The Red & Black was not significantly correlated with any specific section. Student Attitudes and Opinions about The Red & Black Students attitudes regarding the trustworthiness variables of The Red & Black were ranked on a seven-point Likert scale, where one represented untrustworthy and seven represented trustworthy. A score of four represented a neutral attitude. Each variables score including dependability, honesty, reliability, sincerity and trustworthiness fell between the four and five points on the scale. Overall, based on the trustworthy index, the trustworthiness of The Red & Black scored above neutral (M = 4.62, SD = 1.09). Students attitudes regarding the professionalism variables of The Red & Black were ranked on a sevenpoint Likert scale, where one represented unprofessional and seven represented professional. A score of four represented a neutral attitude. The variables experience, knowledgeable, qualified and skill fell between the four and five points on the scale. The expertise variable fell below neutral (M = 3.68, SD = 1.61). Overall, based on the expertise index, the professionalism of The Red & Black scored above neutral (M = 4.16, SD = 1.19). There is no statistical significance for correlations between the time students spend reading The Red & Black and the indexes for objectivity, satisfaction, trustworthiness and expertise. Therefore, the more time students spend reading the paper does not affect their feelings toward The Red & Blacks objectivity and profession-

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alism. In addition, the more time students spend reading the paper does not affect their satisfaction or trustworthiness of The Red & Black. Furthermore, there are no statistically significant values between a students grade level and the indexes for objectivity, satisfaction, trustworthiness and expertise. However, this first survey did not include the freshman class. As students progress through college our results show that they may lose trust (r = -.13, p = .138) and feel less satisfied (r = -.14, p =.106) with The Red & Black. These results may become statistically significant if the sample included freshman. We also wanted to see if grade levels differed on questions that asked about The Red & Blacks trustworthiness, accuracy, and mission. On nearly all of the responses, there were no differences among the grade levels, including graduate students, with how well they felt The Red & Black represents UGA students. The only valid result was found at a .10 significance level; seniors were least likely to agree with the statement I feel The Red & Black adequately serves the student community; t (136), = 1.663, p =.099. A one-way ANOVA was used to test satisfaction differences among the different categories of The Red & Blacks news coverage. Satisfaction among grade levels differed for three types of news categories, Student Policies F (4,134) = 2.2422, p = .051, Greek Life F (4,134) = 3.281, p = .013, UGA Administration F (4,133) = 2.730, p = .032. There is no difference among grade levels for the rest of the news categories. We used t-tests to further examine the statistically significant results from the ANOVA. Seniors were the least likely to be satisfied with coverage of the Greek Life community; t (137) = 2.434. p = .016. However, seniors did not differ from other grade levels with any of the other 10 satisfaction categories. Sophomores were more likely to be more satisfied with coverage in several areas, including student policies, t (137) = -3.879, p < .001; UGA administration, t (136) = -3.616, p = .001; and budget, t (135) = -2.311, p = .022. Juniors and graduate students showed no statistically significant differences with their satisfaction of news coverage. Print Readership Loyalty A frequency was used to determine why the readership loyalty of the print version of The Red & Black changed. Of the few students whose loyalty changed, the reasons cited are a lack of time (14.6%), a lack of interest (11.3%), biased news coverage (6.0%), multiple articles offended me (3.3%), inconvenient location of distribution boxes (2.0%), one article offended me (1.3%), and a lack of availability (1.3%).

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Most respondents (N = 99) have been consistent readers of The Red & Black since they began. From the total sample of respondents (N = 151), the main reasons for remaining loyal readers include that The Red & Black is readily available (35.1%), an interest in UGA news (32.5%), students like to know what is happening on campus (32.5%), and students have time between classes (28.5%). Distribution Boxes The majority (56.3%) of students reported that they passed three or more distribution boxes on a daily basis. A fifth (19.2%) of students reported passing two boxes, and a tenth (9.9%) of students reported passing only one box. The minority of students do not pay attention to distribution boxes (4.6%) or do not pass (2.0%) a distribution box. Students were asked where else they would like to see a distribution box. Students wanted to see distribution boxes at these locations in descending order: Jittery Joes at five points (35.8%), Chick-fil-a at Beechwood (31.8%), Stegeman Coliseum bus stop (25.8%) and the intramural fields (21.2%).

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SECOND WAvE FRESHMEN SAMPLE
We released a second survey wave to understand opinions about The Red & Black among freshmen at UGA. From the results of our first survey, we knew that many UGA students began reading The Red & Black their freshmen year. We wanted to target freshmen in order to learn if they differ in their reading habits from older students. Additionally, the first sample does not include freshmen for the 2010-2011 academic year, since these students were not yet enrolled at UGA. The Institutional Review Board approved our request for 1,000 freshmen e-mail addresses on Oct. 26, 2010. The project number for our request is 2011-10299-0. The Office of the Registrar then provided us with the 1,000 e-mail addresses on Nov. 1, 2010, of freshmen from all majors. Three e-mails bounced from the sample. The valid sample is 997 students. We distributed the e-mails to the freshmen sample in a similar manner as the first wave by using the two Gmail accounts previously named UGA Newspaper Research on Nov. 1, 2010. Students had three days to respond to the survey before we sent a reminder e-mail to the list on Nov. 4, 2010. The reminder e-mail was a shortened version of the initial e-mail. Students could respond to the survey from Nov. 1, 2010, to Nov. 7, 2010. We received 116 responses for an estimated final response rate of 11.6 percent. All data were collected by Survey Monkey and stored on Survey Monkeys servers until we downloaded the information on Nov. 8, 2010. Freshmen Sample Bounced E-mails valid Sample Total Responses Response Rate 1,000 3 997 116 11.6%

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FRESHMEN SURvEY RESULTS
Media Use Students were asked to rank from the most to the least which media outlets they use to gather news. The majority of students use online news (M = 3.03) as their most important news outlet. The next preferred news outlets are ranked from most important to least important: television (M = 3.16), social media (M = 3.66), The Red & Black (M = 3.85), print newspaper (M = 4.39), magazines (M = 4.94), and radio (M = 5.07). Students were asked what medium they use to read The Red & Black. The majority (80.0%) of respondents read the print edition of The Red & Black. The next largest segment of students (11.3%) read The Red & Black both online and print. Few students (8.7%) do not read The Red & Black. Not a single freshmen student read only the online edition of The Red & Black. Nearly one-half of respondents (47%) pick up a print copy of The Red & Black one to two days a week. A few freshmen students (12.2%) pick up the paper every day. A quarter (23.5%) of students read the print paper three to four times a week. Less than one fifth (17.4%) of students never pick a print copy. An independent T-test was conducted to compare heavy news users with students who read The Red & Black for 15 minutes or less (M = 1.19, SD = .45) and those who read it more than 15 minutes (M = 1.49, SD = .75); t (113) = 2.38, p = .008. Students who read news more often in general spend more time reading The Red & Black. The Red & Black Sections Students were asked to rank what they felt to be the most important section in The Red & Black. The most important section was UGA News (M = 2.78). Following UGA News, students ranked the following in order: Sports (M = 3.68), Crime (M = 3.74), Variety (M = 3.84), Opinions (M = 4.48), Coupons (M = 4.91), Puzzles (M = 4.95) and Classifieds (M = 6.55). The survey results also highlight how certain sections go together for readers. Sections that show a negative correlation align in terms of ordered preference of The Red & Black sections.

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The Crime section was significantly and negatively correlated with Sports (r = -222, p < .05). The Classifieds section was also significantly and negatively correlated with Sports (r = -.305, p <.05). The Variety section was significantly and negatively correlated with Puzzles (r = -.273, p < .05). The UGA News section was also significantly and negatively correlated with Puzzles (r = -.332, p < .05). An independent T-test was conducted to compare coupon section rankings with those who picked it up three or more days a week (M = 5.5, SD = 2.2) and those that picked it up less than three times a week (M = 4.56, SD = 2.2); t (78) = 1.864, p = .066. The results showed that students who picked up the print edition of The Red & Black at least three days a week do not rank Coupons as important as other students. Independent T-tests were conducted to compare satisfaction with sections and how often students picked up the paper. Students who picked up the paper three or more days a week were more satisfied with Campus Crime, t (93) = 2.19, p = .031; Football coverage, t (92) = 2.067, p = .042; and UGA Administration, t (93) = 3.28, p = .001. An independent T-test was conducted to compare the preference of sections between genders. The findings show that there is no significance between genders for section importance. Student Attitudes and Opinions about The Red & Black An independent T-test was conducted to compare the trust, satisfaction and objectivity of the newspaper between genders. The findings show that there is no significance between genders for trust, satisfaction and objectivity for The Red & Black among freshmen. Print Readership Loyalty A frequency was used to determine why the readership loyalty of the print version of The Red & Black changed. Of the few students whose loyalty changed, the reasons cited were lack of time (6.1%) and biased news coverage (3.5%). For the respondents who have been consistent readers of The Red & Black, the majority of students (27.0%) are interested in UGA news as well as knowing what is happening around campus. Other reasons students cited for readership loyalty included that they have time between classes (26.3%), the newspaper is readily available (25.2%), UGA sports news (18.3%), students follow the controversial stories (15.7%), they like the puzzles (11.3%), objective news coverage (10.4%), The Red & Black is independent of the university (7.0%), and the students are part of a group on campus (5.2%).

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Of those respondents who are not consistent readers, the majority (26.1%) did not have time followed by students (18.3%) who had little interest in the paper itself. Distribution Boxes The majority (54.8%) of students reported that they passed three or more distribution boxes on a daily basis. Less than one-fifth (15.7%) of students reported passing two boxes and few students (6.1%) reported passing only one box. The minority of students do not pay attention (5.2%) or do not pass (6.1%) a distribution box. Freshmen students were asked where else they would like to see a distribution box. Students wanted to see distribution boxes at these locations in descending order: Jittery Joes at five points (42.6%), Coliseum bus stop (33.0%), Chick-fil-A at Beechwood (24.3%) and the intramural fields (16.5%).

E-MAIL SURvEY
Please help UGA students by taking a media survey! You are automatically entered to win a $50 gift certificate for Downtown Athens! We are researching news gathering habits among UGA students and we want YOUR opinion! Would you mind taking 10 minutes to complete a confidential online survey? The survey asks basic questions about you, your media use and your use and opinions about The Red & Black student newspaper. Only your aggregated responses will be used. Nothing that identifies you with any of your responses will be linked to you. Each recipient of this e-mail is already automatically entered to win a $50 gift certificate to use anywhere in Downtown Athens! Ten winners will be selected for the $50 gift certificates. You can take the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2Z7BJ3R until Monday, Nov. 8. Thank you in advance for your participation! Ben Benson Tanya DiClemente

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Ashley Teale Collins Johnson Stefanie DiLegge Megan Trammell Students in the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, UGA If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our group at uga.newspaper.research@gmail.com or Ben Benson at bbenson@uga.edu. Please note: Internet communications are insecure and there is a limit to the confidentiality that can be guaranteed due to the technology itself. However, once we receive the completed surveys, we will store them on a password-protected computer and will destroy any identity links by Tuesday, Nov. 9. SURvEY REMINDER Only three more days to help UGA students by taking a media survey! We are fellow UGA students who are researching your news habits and use and opinions about The Red & Black student newspaper. We would really appreciate if you would be able to fill out our 10-minute survey. Nothing that identifies you with any of your responses will be linked to you. Each recipient of this e-mail is already automatically entered to win a $50 gift certificate to use anywhere in Downtown Athens! Ten winners will be selected for the $50 gift certificates. If you have already taken the survey, thank you! We will not send out any more e-mail notifications after this e-mail. Take the survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2Z7BJ3R Thank you in advance for your participation! Ben Benson Tanya DiClemente Ashley Teale

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Collins Johnson Stefanie DiLegge Megan Trammell Students in the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, UGA If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our group at uga.newspaper.research@gmail.com or Ben Benson at bbenson@uga.edu. Please note: Internet communications are insecure and there is a limit to the confidentiality that can be guaranteed due to the technology itself. However, once we receive the completed surveys, we will store them on a password-protected computer and will destroy any identity links by Tuesday, Nov. 9.

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GRAPHS Please rank the following in order of news media use:

News Media Use Ranking

(Sophomore - Graduate)
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1st Choice 2nd Choice

e Ne w t N s ew sp ap er M ag az in So e cia l M Th ed e ia Re d & Bl ac k Te le vis io n

Ra

On

lin

Pr

in

Freshmen News Media Use Ranking

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Ot

he

3rd Choice

o di

1st Choice 2nd Choice

On lin e Ne Pr in w t N s ew sp ap er M ag az in So e cia l M Th ed e ia Re d & Bl ac k Te le vis io n

io

Ra d

Ot

he r

3rd Choice

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Most preferred news outlet:

Sophomore to Graduate News Outlets

Radio Other 3% 1% Television 16%

The Red & Black 7%

Online 42%

Social Media 25%

Print Magazine Newspaper 5% 1%

Freshmen News Outlets

Radio 6% Television 25% The Red & Black 11% Social Media 15% Other 1% Online 33%

Magazine 1%

Print Newspaper 8%

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Last week, how long did you spend reading, listening and watching news?

More than 5 hours 10% 4-5 hours 17%

Sophomore to Graduate Time Consuming News

Less than 1 hour 30%

1-3 hours 43%

Freshmen Time Consuming News

4-5 hours 9% More than 5 hours 4% Less than 1 hour 37%

1-3 hours 50%

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When reading The Red & Black, do you read it: -Online -Print -Both -I do not read The Red & Black

Sophomore to Graduate Media Preferences

I do not read The Red & Black 9% Both 22% Print 61%

Online 8%

Freshmen Media Preferences

I do not read The Red & Black 9% Online 0% Both 11%

Print 80%

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Last week, how many times did you pick up a print copy of The Red & Black?

Sophomore to Graduate Time Reading Print Edi5on

Every day 14% Never 23% 3-4 +mes 27%

1-2 +mes 36%

Freshmen Time Reading Print Edi2on

Every day 12% Never 17%

3-4 +mes 24%

1-2 +mes 47%

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Last week, how many minutes on average did you spend reading The Red & Black online (Facebook, Twitter, and Red & Black website included)?

Sophomore to Graduate Time Online

31-45 mins 8% 16-30 mins 19% 0-15 mins 71% 46 or more 2%

Freshmen Time Online

31-45 mins 5% 16-30 mins 23% 0-15 mins 70% 46 or more 2%

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Please rank the following in the order of the most important section to your personal taste to the least (1 being the most important, 8 being the least important). If you have never read a section, please leave it blank:

Sophomore to Graduate Sec/on Ranking

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1st Choice 2nd Choice 3rd Choice

s le zz Pu Cl as

ns

ty

ts

Cr im

on

rie

io

Ne

or

Va

Op

Co

Freshmen Sec+on Ranking

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1st Choice 2nd Choice 3rd Choice

UG

ew s

Sp

s zz le Pu Cl

ie ty

on s

Cr im

io n

Sp or

Co up

Va r

Op

A N

UG

as

si

in

ed s

ts

si

up

in

ed

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DISCUSSION SECTION
The e-mail survey of University of Georgia students gives insight into the total population of students. By splitting the survey into two distinct waves, we can make comparisons between upperclassmen and freshmen populations. Furthermore, the freshmen population is particularly important for The Red & Black to understand since nearly all undergraduate students who read The Red & Black begin reading their freshmen year of college. The survey results show strong print readership of The Red & Black among UGA students. More than 80 percent of UGA students reported reading the print edition of The Red & Black; however, the majority of readers pick up The Red & Black only one or two days a week. Nearly half of freshmen students and onethird of upperclassmen reported reading the The Red & Black print edition only once or twice a week. Based on these results, The Red & Blacks readership includes most university students, although many UGA students are not daily readers. On the other hand, one-quarter of students in both samples said they read The Red & Black three to four days a week. These readers are the more loyal of The Red & Blacks audience and this figure did not differ between the freshmen and upperclassmen samples. However, these results could be biased in that graduate students consume the print edition of The Red & Black the least often. Most graduate students reported only reading the print copy once or twice a week. Although some readership is better than none, graduate students do not have as much attachment to the university as undergraduates. Many of them spend time in one building without walking by as many distribution boxes and dont have as much spare time in between classes. Disregarding graduate students, our results show that students may become more interested in the print editions of The Red & Black as they progress through college. Seniors are the most likely to pick up the print edition of The Red & Black. Since many of them have been at UGA since their freshman year, they have made a habit of reading The Red & Black. Likewise, seniors have spent at least four years participating in UGA events and organizations. It makes sense that this student group would care the most about UGA news and campus happenings. Furthermore, while few students read The Red & Black every day, many

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students may not come to campus every day. Students who take classes only on three or four days a week are unlikely to read The Red & Black every day. In both surveys, students showed similar preferences for consuming news media. Students overwhelmingly rely on the Internet for their news sources. After the Internet, however, news mediums begin to blend together in importance. Students in every grade level ranked reading The Red & Black as a more important source of news than other print newspapers. Similar to past research, this demonstrates that students read the school newspaper more often than local or regional print newspapers. Social media was also the third choice of news for students in both surveys. This trend is not likely to decline in the near future as smart phones become more prevalent on college campuses. Although students reported using the Internet as their first choice for news, very few students exclusively use The Red & Blacks website. Not one freshman reported exclusively reading The Red & Black online and very few upperclassmen solely use The Red & Blacks website. Based on these results, UGA students do not perceive the newspapers website to be nearly as important as the print edition. The staff of The Red & Black has supported this research by saying that most visits to The Red & Blacks website come from outside of Athens. Although the website mirrors the newspapers content, the website seemingly serves alumni or parents of UGA students. Fittingly, two of students main reasons for print readership loyalty were The Red & Blacks convenience and free time in between classes. The Red & Black succeeds with students since it is free and usually easy to obtain as students walk through campus between classes. Still, the primary reason among all students for maintaining loyal readership is an interest in university news. Students also wanted to be knowledgeable about current happenings on campus. Contrary to the beliefs of The Red & Black staff, students do not think sports and opinions are the most important sections in the newspaper. Instead, UGA News was ranked the most important by a clear majority. After UGA news, crime was the second most important section in the upperclassmen survey, even trumping sports. These results show that UGA students are interested and value the hard news of The Red & Black. Furthermore, upperclassmen students ranked variety and sports almost equally, and freshmen ranked variety fourth most important. Although The Red & Black devotes a significant amount of space to sports and football, variety is an equally important section for UGA students.

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Looking further into the results, students do not rank the opinions section as important as The Red & Black staff believe. Among the upperclassmen, the opinions section ranked behind puzzles, and opinions barely trump coupons in the freshmen survey. However, students either read regularly or disregard the opinions section, meaning that loyal readers of the opinions section perceive it as a vital dialogue between the paper and its readers. Furthermore, the staff of The Red & Black is most likely to hear from students about the opinions since students can write in letters and express themselves publicly. To its most ardent supporters, the opinions section provides a critical voice between The Red & Black and the student body. However, the average student is more interested in news, crime and sports. The survey results also show different readership types among students. For example, students who read the variety section tend to enjoy puzzles; students who read sports tend to like crime. Students who ranked the news section highly also ranked variety, puzzles and coupons as important. Not surprisingly, there seem to be pure sports readers who pick up The Red & Black for the sports section. Sports readers may have also ranked crime higher since several UGA sports figures have been the subject of controversial stories this year. However, students who read The Red & Black for UGA news were not more likely to read The Red & Black for crime stories. These results show that the students who like hard news may not like crime stories. Perhaps not surprisingly, students who ranked puzzles highly also were more likely to rank several other sections similarly important variety, news, opinions, and sports. Essentially, puzzles appeal to all readers of The Red & Black. However, puzzles are a polarizing section for readers; they either think puzzles are very important or not important at all. In other words, few students are casual consumers of The Red & Blacks puzzles. Like the opinions section, students either enjoy the puzzles or disregard them. Perhaps most striking is the lack of differences in section importance among gender, class standing and news readership. In particular, males and females have few differences with regard to which sections they deem important. Males enjoy sports coverage more and females use coupons more often. Heavier news users of The Red & Black do not rank coupons as highly as light readers. Light readers of The Red & Black may make a concerted effort to pick up the newspaper on Tuesdays specifically for Coupon Corner, whereas loyal readers always read the newspaper for news and are indifferent to coupons.

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Regarding the trustworthiness and professionalism of The Red & Black staff, students generally trust the newspaper and think the staff is professional. However, while UGA students perceive The Red & Black staff to be trustworthy, they still realize these students are learning how to be professionals. The students who produce The Red & Black are learning how to become journalists. After all, The Red & Black is not a regional or national newspaper. But The Red & Black has strong credibility among UGA students. Based on our survey results, UGA students trust their fellow students running The Red & Black. Still, the results show that as students progress through college, they may trust the newspaper less. Seniors in particular seem to be disenfranchised with some of The Red & Blacks coverage. Seniors were the only student year to rank crime as less important than other sections. Furthermore, seniors did not think The Red & Black did its job of serving the student community as well as other student grade levels. The skepticism expressed by seniors is irrelevant in terms of print readership. Seniors are the most avid readers of the print edition of The Red & Black. Seniors are the most likely grade level to pick up The Red & Black three or four days a week. Possibly by being active in student groups and involved with campus activities, seniors at some point experience a clash with The Red & Black. This could lead them to being more distrustful than younger students. In further support of this notion, sophomores were more likely to be satisfied with coverage of many student groups in The Red & Black; freshmen also expressed a high level of satisfaction with the coverage for many student groups. Still, the importance of these results shows that a high level of trust and satisfaction with news coverage does not necessarily translate to a higher level of readership. Furthermore, few students reported that they ever stopped reading The Red & Black, meaning that students make a habit of reading The Red & Black once they begin. Of the students who had stopped reading The Red & Black at some point, the main reasons were a lack of time or a lack of interest. Especially for juniors, seniors and graduate students, involvement in academics and students organizations can take away leisure time to read The Red & Black. And while a few students quit reading due to offensive articles or biased news coverage, these students were in the far minority.

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From the survey results, The Red & Black does not have a problem with the location of its distribution boxes. The majority of students in both samples report walking past three distribution boxes while on campus, and only about five percent in each sample do not pay attention to the distribution boxes. Nearly all UGA students know where to obtain a copy of The Red & Black and pay attention to The Red & Blacks locations. Still, The Red & Black could improve upon its distribution. The Red & Black has in the past inquired about placing more distribution boxes near bus stops and students support this idea. A full quarter of students also reported they would like to see distribution boxes by the Coliseum bus stop, and many of them wrote in various bus stops for where they would like to see The Red & Black offered.

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CONTENT ANALYSIS METHODS
Our method for conducting a newspaper content analysis compared The Red & Black to Louisiana State Universitys student-run, primarily independent newspaper The Daily Reveille. We chose The Daily Reveille due to its comparable presence in the South Eastern Conference. They also have a similar distribution rate as The Red & Black and both schools had PDF files available online. This feature allowed us to easily access the documents and analyze the content. Our main goal was to examine the different topics covered by each paper on a daily basis. The main categories we analyzed were: national, world and local news; weather forecast; crime and student news; opinions; the environment; and puzzles and games. We compiled a list of student groups and focused on athletes, Greeks, student organizations, faculty and administration. We analyzed the first six weeks of the school year by starting on August 16, 2010 and ended on September 24, 2010. Each member of our group was responsible for one week of The Red & Black. The Daily Reveille did not begin production for the new academic school year until August 23, 2010. Therefore, there are only five weeks of data for the Louisiana State University campus newspaper. We coded the content based on the frequency of topics covered and then broke the data down further into a smaller subsection documenting which groups and majors were covered within the student-only news section. Tracking this information allows us to see which publics are covered the most for each schools newspaper and any trending topics that may occur within each paper.

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CONTENT ANALYSIS RESULTS
Results of the content analysis between the two newspapers show The Daily Reveille has more articles per paper (M = 33.67) than The Red & Black (M = 25.93). In the six weeks of content analysis, The Red & Black printed an extra week for a total of 29 issues, verses The Daily Reveilles 21 issues. In the content analysis, we looked at topics covered by each paper. The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille were similar in the coverage of the following topics, with means respectively reported per paper: environment (M = 0.17, M = 0.14); weather (M = 0.41, M = 0.76); puzzles and games (M = 1.86, M = 1.67); classifieds (M = 0.86, M = 0.76) and cartoons (M = 2.00, M = 1.76). The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille differed in their coverage on many topics. The Red & Black published fewer stories per day compared to the The Daily Reveille concerning the following topics, with means respectively reported: world news (M = 0.00, M = 2.00); national news (M = 0.48, M = 3.14); local news (M = 1.07, M = 3.56); school-only related news (M = 4.24, M = 5.52); variety (M = 2.45, M = 3.10); sports (M = 3.76, M = 5.29); crime (M = 1.97, M = 1.10) and opinions (M = 4.90, M = 3.86). In content analyzing the school-only related news articles, we looked at the publics discussed in each article. The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille were similar in their coverage of the following publics with means reported per paper respectively: student government (M = 0.07, M = 0.24); Greek life (M = 0.14, M = 0.24); administration (M = 0.66, M = 0.67); faculty (M = 0.48, M = 0.57); students in general (M = 1.45, M = 1.76); alumni ((M = 0.14, M = 0.33); professional student organizations (M = 0.07, M = 0.10); academic major groups or departments (M = 0.21, M = 0.24) and student political groups (M = 0.03, M = 0.05). The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille differed in their coverage of certain publics. The Red & Black provided more coverage per paper compared to The Daily Reveille regarding the following publics with means reported respectively: sports administration and coaches (M = 0.45, M = 0.05); service oriented student groups (M = 0.52, M = 0.14); multicultural groups (M = 0.10, M = 0.00) and student religious organizations (M = 0.10, M = 0.00). However, The Red & Black lacked coverage of facilities on campus (M = 0.00) in contrast to The Daily Reveille (M = 0.24).

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In content analyzing the sports articles, we looked at the different teams discussed in each article. The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille both heavily cover football in comparison to all other sports. The Red & Black published 79 articles relating to football and a total of 36 articles for all other sports. The Daily Reveille published 80 articles relating to football and a total of 29 articles for all other sports. The Red & Black showed more diversity in its sports articles by covering the following teams that were not mentioned in The Daily Reveille: gymnastics (M = 0.07), baseball (M = 0.03) and band (M = 0.03). However, The Daily Reveille covered club sports teams (M = 0.05), whereas The Red & Black did not.

CONTENT ANALYSIS DISCUSSIONS

The content analysis of The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille gives insight into the content and organizations covered by each paper. By analyzing both university newspapers within the same period of time, we can make comparisons regarding the type of content and make suggestions based on content analysis findings. We could also analyze the layout of each newspaper and make educated layout suggestions. Throughout the content analysis, we coded the content based on the frequency of topics covered. Then we categorized the data in specific subsections, documenting which groups and majors were covered within the student-only news section. The results show both the similarities and differences between topics, groups and layouts of the two newspapers. As a larger newspaper, The Daily Reveille averages more articles per paper than The Red & Black. Regarding the topics covered in the paper, both newspapers had similar coverage on topics such as environment, weather, classifieds, cartoons, and puzzles and games. However, The Daily Reveille covered a greater variety of topics than The Red & Black, including world news, national news and local news. The local, national and world news sections covered in The Daily Reveille were always found in the same location and were generally brief articles that reported the most important news stories. This broader coverage of news differs greatly from The Red & Black. From previous research, we know that The Red & Black does not report on world, national and local news due to a branding of their newspaper with all things UGA and because The Red & Black does not have an Associated Press subscription.

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The Daily Reveille also covered a larger amount of articles relating to school-only news, local news, variety, sports, crime and opinions. However, the reason that The Daily Reveille covered more articles regarding the above mentioned topics could be attributed to a larger number of pages in The Daily Reveilles print edition. Although The Daily Reveille covered a greater variety of topics, The Red & Black covered a greater variety of school-related campus groups and organizations. Both newspapers had similar coverage of student groups such as student government, Greek life, administration, faculty, students in general, alumni, professional student organizations, academic major groups or departments and student political groups. However, The Red & Black covered a greater variety of groups per paper than The Daily Reveille such as sports administration and coaches, service-oriented student groups, multicultural groups and student religious organizations. This greater variety in news stories could be attributed to the mission of The Red & Black to report on all things UGA and shows that student reporters are dedicated to reporting on a variety of topics and groups regarding the student body. The Daily Reveille did report more stories regarding facilities on campus; however, this could be attributed to the timing of construction on both campuses within the time newspapers were analyzed. In regards to the sports coverage, both newspapers heavily covered football. However, we began the content analysis at the beginning of a new football season at SEC universities. The Red & Black covered a larger variety of university sports than The Daily Reveille, such as gymnastics, baseball and band. This finding again shows that The Red & Black is dedicated to its mission of reporting all things UGA. However, findings show that The Daily Reveille published articles on club sports teams while The Red & Black did not cover club sports. Based on a study by Pasternack and Utt (1986), students rank newspapers with traditional and modern layouts similarly in many regards. Similar dimensions between layouts include how those measuring a newspapers information content, boldness and importance. Additionally, students overall think both layouts are effective. The researchers found a few differences between traditional and modern newspaper layouts; for example, students associated traditional layouts with hard news.

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Based on this past study, The Red & Black and The Daily Reveille each use a modern layout, although The Red & Black uses a more traditional layout than The Daily Reveille. The Daily Reveilles layout has a few modern aspects that could improve The Red & Blacks layout without turning off readers. In line with the goal to link the print edition with online social media sources, The Daily Reveille showcases their online presence by printing the Facebook logo and Twitter name in the paper daily. Another prominent feature in The Daily Reveille is its large section headings. Although The Red & Black has similar headings, its headings are significantly smaller. A larger section name could make the newspaper more visually pleasing and easier to navigate. Along these same lines, The Daily Reveille adds subheads to each article. These subheads are a one-word line bolded in gray that reveals the topic of the story. This feature makes reading the newspaper easier for the reader and allows them to quickly find an article they are interested in reading.

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GRAPHS

Groups Men/oned in Ar/cles

PoliDcal Major/Deptartments Religious Groups MulDcultural Service Groups Professional Groups Alumni Students in General Sports Admin & Coaches Faculty Admin Greeks SGA 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 Average per paper

Groups

The Red & Black The Daily Reveille

Topics Men0oned in Newspaper

Cartoons Classieds Puzzles/Games Coupons Weather Opinions Environment Crime Sports Variety School ONLY Related News Local News Na4onal News World News 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 Average per paper

Topics

The Red & Black The Daily Reveille

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Sports Men1oned in Ar1cles

Facili@es Club Sports Band Swimming Track Baseball Gymnas@cs Basketball Tennis Volleyball Cross Country Soccer Golf Football 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00

Sports Team

The Red & Black The Daily Reveille

Average per paper

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DISTRIBUTION BOxES
According to our survey results, students are aware of distribution boxes and the majority of students pass more than three boxes each day. However, The Red & Black could make a few changes to its newspaper distribution method. Many students in the survey said they would like Red & Black distribution boxes near bus stops on campus. Although the University of Georgia Campus Transit System does not want distribution boxes near campus bus stops, The Red & Black should make a firm effort to add pickup locations by or near bus stops to specifically target students waiting for buses. While students read The Red & Black on campus, many of them also expressed a desire to see newspapers at off-campus locations. More than one-third of students would like to see The Red & Black available at offcampus locations. The Red & Black could distribute papers to high student-traffic locations such as Jittery Joes at Five Points or Chick-fil-a at Beechwood. Even freshmen, who overwhelmingly live on campus, would like to see The Red & Black at these off-campus businesses. Although this would require staff to deliver to off-campus locations, the newspaper could increase its reach by distributing to places frequently visited by students. In the focus groups, some students expressed frustration regarding being unable to obtain a print copy of The Red & Black in the afternoon in high-traffic areas on campus, such as the distribution boxes near the Tate Student Center and Zell B. Miller Learning Center. However, distribution boxes are limited in the amount of newspapers they hold. During the day, newspapers could be transferred from low-traffic to high-traffic distribution boxes. This process could especially aid pickup when The Red & Black runs extra sections or has inserts; inserts reduce the number of newspapers available in each distribution box and limit newspapers in high-traffic areas. This re-distribution process could help The Red & Black increase newspapers available to students at the most highly visited boxes.

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NEWS COvERAGE / ASSOCIATED PRESS SUBSCRIPTION
In August 2009, The Red & Black explained that cost was the ultimate reason for dropping its subscription to the Associated Press. One year later, many upperclassmen remember and miss The Red & Blacks subscription to the Associated Press. Although a subscription to the Associated Press costs $15,000 per year, the research findings suggest that The Red & Black could benefit by giving readers more local, national or world news stories. Students say UGA news is the most important section of The Red & Black. Since news is the most important section for readers, The Red & Black could broaden its news coverage beyond the UGA campus to the surrounding communities in Athens and the Atlanta area. Since the subscription to the Associated Press is too expensive, an in-house reporter could cover news stories in the Atlanta area on a weekly basis. Many UGA students are closely tied to the Atlanta area already. More than one-third of students at UGA are from within four suburban Atlanta counties Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Fulton. Although regional news coverage is not the same as world news, it would diversify the information available to students. Ideally, The Red & Black could provide coverage of world, national and local news, even as a small section in the newspaper. In several years, every student who misses the Associated Press content will have graduated, but future UGA students will still have a high interest in news stories.

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LAYOUT
The newspaper layout can be modified to accommodate The Red & Blacks current and additional social media. The Red & Blacks front page can promote The Red & Blacks website and social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The Red & Black currently puts its web address website on its front page in a small font to the left of the banner. The upgraded prominence of The Red & Blacks Internet presence would urge students to its online content. We also recommend several changes to The Red & Blacks layout after comparing it with Louisiana State Universitys The Daily Reveille to improve the organization of the newspaper. Instead of using light dotted lines to separate articles, The Red & Black could instead use darker solid lines. Additionally, The Red & Black uses small headings for all newspaper sections other than opinions. To supplement these small headings, The Red & Black could label each article with a transparent sub-heading, so students can easily identify the sections for news articles. The Red & Black could shorten its teaser headlines on the front page to balance the social media logos on the opposite side without cluttering the top banner. Lastly, The Red & Black could incorporate an ongoing weekly forecast bar above the index on bottom of front page. In the focus groups, students said it would be worthwhile if the newspaper provided weather coverage beyond the current day. The example layout to illustrate several of these suggestions is found on the next two pages.

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MEET AND GREET EvENT
The Red & Black staff currently does not hold networking events during the school year with student organization leaders. In an effort to build relationships between The Red & Black and student organizations, The Red & Black could host a Meet and Greet event at the beginning of each semester and invite top student organization leaders. Since students with The Red & Black staff and student organizations continually turn over, these meetings would build new relationships between the newspaper and these key publics. Additionally, the Meet and Greet would help student organization leaders learn the main goals and mission of The Red & Black. If The Red & Black built relationships with campus organization leaders, they would have an inside source for future articles and could potentially strengthen their reputation with organizations around campus. The Meet and Greet would be held at the beginning of each semester. The attendees could discuss what
The Red & Black would like to do in the upcoming year and how to work together for the benefit of the UGA

community. At these gatherings the new student organization leaders will be given the opportunity to meet the main editors and writers for each section in the newspaper. Contact information for The Red & Black staff would be distributed in information packets at the beginning of each Meet and Greet. Likewise, student organizations would be given the opportunity to exchange contact information and communication materials with The Red & Black. Event Checklist Prior to Event:
Select members for planning and event committee Create a master plan and finalize the date Select chairs for subcommittees Invitations Food & beverage Setup & cleanup

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Student organization liaison Promotional material Create a budget Create a contingency plan Prepare distribution material for each organization Have a meeting the day prior to the event to finalize all information

Day of Event:
Set up registration tables for student leaders to check-in, receive name tags and all informational

material
Have a welcome opening speaker. Discuss what The Red & Black would like to do for the groups

present and how they can work together to improve the UGA community
Introduce the main editors for each section of the newspaper. Provide contact information for each in

the information packets distributed

Pair each student guest with an editor or writer from each section. Discuss what the organization

would like to see from The Red & Black

Closing speaker. Thank everyone for attending. Address any additional questions or concerns

Post Event:
Mail a copy of the information to people unable to attend Send thank-you notes to everyone that was involved in the event Have an evaluation meeting with The Red & Black staff

Strategies:
Make the event worth both The Red & Blacks time and the guests time Match the event with the correct student and faculty representatives

Goals:
Increase awareness of The Red & Black throughout the UGA campus Unite student and faculty leaders through The Red & Black publication Build and renew relationships between The Red & Black and students, faculty and staff

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ARTICLE IN UGA 101
The Red & Black prints UGA 101 for student orientation. The booklet contains articles introducing students to The University of Georgia and Athens. The content is targeted to both parents and students and is distributed to 9,000 people. However, there is little Red & Black-related material within the brochure. Other than the newspapers logo on the front page, The Red & Black includes only a campus map with the location of distribution boxes on campus. The Red & Black writers could include an article containing information about the newspaper itself. The article would introduce incoming students to the newspaper and increase awareness among both students and parents. Most importantly, the introduction article would tell students how the newspaper serves the student community and provides a real-world learning environment for students. Included in the article should be information regarding:

The history of The Red & Black The mission statement Content covered in the newspaper Distribution dates Award information Employment opportunities

SELF-PROMOTIONAL ADvERTISEMENTS
Although many readers of The Red & Black may be unaware, the staff and alumni of The Red & Black have won many prestigious awards. Over the past three years, The Red & Black and its individual writers have earned more than 45 awards. Placing advertisements on The Red & Black distribution boxes would inform students that they enjoy one of the best investigative and hard-news college newspapers in the nation. The Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation co-sponsor the most prestigious collegiate newspaper awards, The Pacemakers. The Red & Black won a Pacemaker award in 2010, and has been a finalist for the past three years. According to The American Collegiate Press, judges

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select Pacemaker awards based on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics. Although the staff of The Red & Black does not want to overly promote themselves, the newspaper can advertise itself by promoting its awards. By promoting its awards, The Red & Black would be trying to communicate a sense of pride among its readers. The end goal would be to increase students awareness of the quality of newspaper they enjoy at The University of Georgia. Advertisements could be placed in campus buses, on newspaper boxes, or in the newspaper itself.

LINKING SOCIAL MEDIA PROPERLY TO PRINT EDITION

The Red & Black has many opportunities to get students to pick up a paper through using leads from their social media accounts. It would be beneficial for The Red & Black to use Twitter for story leads and then link students to the newspaper by saying, Find out more about this story in todays copy of The Red & Black. The Red & Black has close to 5,000 Twitter followers. Through focus group research, we found that some students who do not read The Red & Black follow it on Twitter. Currently, The Red & Black usually pushes its daily content to Twitter all at once during the night or early morning. The Red & Black could attract more online readers through Twitter by publishing its tweets throughout the day. However, according to a Twitter study (Macsai), the best time to tweet is when people get to work, go to lunch or arrive home. For The Red & Black, it can maximize its web presence by pushing content to Twitter when students are engaged with social media, instead of when students are sleeping. The task to link social media to the newspaper is a perfect job for the The Red & Black intern. The student could read the newspaper every morning and find an interesting tag to place on Twitter to encourage followers to pick up the paper that day. Also, the intern could update its Facebook status about breaking news that are found only in a print copy of The Red & Black.

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More than anything else, The Red & Black staff can provide students with reasons to use their smart phones as a method to increase print readership. After all, many students already have smart phones and social media accounts. By incorporating social media into its content, The Red & Black would be reaching its audiences on online platforms that students commonly use.

FOURSqUARE
What is Foursquare? Foursquare is a location-based social network that allows users to connect with friends using GPS via mobile devices. Users check-in at certain locations, which alerts other foursquare users of their whereabouts. Growth Similar to Twitters situation four years ago, the adoption of foursquare has started off slowly. However, as social media users have adopted the platform, foursquare has grown to more than four million users as of fall 2010. Currently, foursquare use is increasing at a rate of 20,000 new people every day. Much of the growth has coincided with the addition of Facebook Places, because foursquare check-ins can now be linked to both Facebook and Twitter profile pages (Van Grove). Foursquare has also made a large push in the past year to partner with universities in its effort to increase its use among college students. The company launched Foursquare for Universities in September 2010 with more than 20 college partnerships around the country (Indvik). Foursquares program aims to help students learn about their campus, university activities, and class information. Although Foursquare for Universities is not at the University of Georgia yet, foursquare recognizes college students as a valuable demographic. What this means for The Red & Black The Red & Black can bridge the gap between heavy mobile media users and readers of its print newspaper. Foursquare allows businesses to offer Specials, which can be either discounts or prizes, to loyal customers when they check-in on foursquare at the business distribution box. This can translate to an increase in readership for The Red & Black by offering incentives to those students that check-in and pick up a print copy.

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Types of Specials for The Red & Black 1. 2. 3. 4. Mayor Specials The mayor of a particular distribution box only unlocks this special. The mayor is the Check-in Specials This special is unlocked when a student checks in at a particular box a certain Frequency-based Specials This special is unlocked when a student checks in every X times at a Wildcard Specials - This special is always unlocked, but The Red & Black has to set a specific student who has checked in the most in the last 60 days at that particular box. number of times specified by The Red & Black. particular distribution box. condition to receive the prize. For example, the students who check-in at the Zell B. Miller Learning Center distribution box have to accurately complete the crossword and turn it in to receive the special.

Benefits to Using Foursquare The Red & Black can use foursquare without any expense. By cross promoting with mobile media devices, The Red & Black has the opportunity to attract more students to reading the print newspaper. The Red & Black can promote the integration of foursquare in the newspaper by informing students and making them aware of the incentives they can receive from participating. Additionally, The Red & Black can better allocate newspapers at its distribution boxes by monitoring the foursquare check-in frequency at particular boxes. The Red & Black can offer more exciting specials and incentives at distribution boxes that do not see a heavy traffic of students, thus encouraging students to pick up the paper in different areas of campus. Another benefit for The Red & Black from using foursquare could be an increase in advertising money. Local businesses can sponsor a distribution box on campus for an additional cost in their previously existing advertising package. Each sponsored distribution box could incorporate the business name and the incentives available at that specific box.

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Ideas for Specials List based on current business partnership with The Red & Black and popularity among UGA students

Normal Special:

Papa Johns Box Yoforia/Yoguri Kinnucans $10 for $20 Mani/Pedi Falalfel King Smoothie King Ike & Jane Jittery Joes $5 gift card Whiplash free medium one topping pizza Car wash - free Chick-fil-A (free milkshake/chicken biscuit) Downtown gift certificate (Freds Building) Week long pass to Omni Club of Athens Target gift card Carmike movie theater pass Last Resort (buy one entree, receive one-half off) Signed Mark Richt or Mark Fox memorabilia Speakeasy (buy one entree, receive one-half off) Carmike movie packet (2 free movie passes, 2 free drinks, free large popcorn)

Exciting Specials for low-traffic distribution boxes:

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INTERNSHIP
The Red & Black does not have anyone on staff specifically managing its public relations functions. Hiring a public relations or marketing intern every semester would help The Red & Black staff become more aware of what their target publics want, and how those publics feel about the newspaper. A public relations or marketing intern would work a 15-20 hour work week. The student would research and monitor all social media outlets by constantly linking The Red & Black online to the actual paper. The position would be largely focused on research. The intern would research competitors and other school newspapers to gather new promotion and communication ideas for The Red & Black. Another requirement of the intern would be to build a strong following with Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. The intern would design contests for readers who like The Red & Blacks Facebook page or follow its Twitter page and also design contests for those who check-in at distribution boxes via Foursquare. The intern could oversee these contests and work with local businesses to set up Foursquare promotions. The final requirement of the intern would be to distribute the Survey Monkey survey to a scientific sample of 1,500 university e-mail addresses. Upon receiving results, the intern will place the information into SPSS. After running the information, the intern will analyze variables and compare it with research previously drawn. The Red & Black Internship Description The Red & Black focuses on nurturing and fostering a positive learning environment for all students interested in a future career in journalism. We look for students with a strong desire to learn and succeed during their internship. As an intern at The Red & Black, a student will gain skills and experience in the following areas: social media, writing and editing, event planning, research, and oral and written communication skills. Interested applicants should send The Red & Black their resume and a writing sample.

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Eligibility: UGA juniors and seniors Fields: Marketing or Public Relations Duration: Fall (12 weeks) September-December Spring (12 weeks) January-May Hours: 15-20 hours per week Responsibilities:
Monitor, maintain and design social media websites (Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) Work to build a strong following with the media networks Engage people who visit The Red & Black social media to pick up a print copy Create fresh content to motivate people to pick up the paper Continue research and measurement for the print edition Administer survey Analyze results Content analyze The Red & Black on a daily basis Track the pick-up rate of the newspaper Assist with event planning Participate in creative brainstorming sessions and strategy sessions Manage and maintain student relationships on campus Produce publicity materials for The Red & Black, including, but not limited to brochures, fact sheets

and feature materials. The internship program is a part-time commitment based on the needs of The Red & Black per semester. The ideal candidate will:
Be a responsible self-starter, innovative thinker and detail-oriented Be extremely proactive and work well in a fast-paced and team-oriented atmosphere Be able to dedicate 15-20 hours per week Have a previous knowledge of social media websites Be eager to learn

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FALL 2010

Results and Deliverables

Freshmen Survey

Analyze Research Results

Strategies and Tac7cs

Content Analysis

Upperclassmen Survey

Focus Groups

Situa7on Analysis

Gantt Charts

Research Plan 9/9/10 9/19/10 9/29/10 10/9/10 10/19/10 10/29/10 11/8/10 11/18/10 11/28/10

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SPRING 2011

Analyze Results Reminder E-mail Launch Survey

Gantt Charts

Maintain Facebook, TwiUer and Foursquare

Launch Foursquare

Ar@cles about Foursquare in Red & Black

Meet & Greet Event

Choose Candidate for Internship

Monitor Daily Pick-up Rate

Interview for Internship

Promote Foursquare to Businesses

Send Event Invita@ons

Create Invita@ons for Event

Increase Distribu@on

Send Intership over Marke@ng and PR Listservs

Tweet about Internship 11/28/10 12/18/10 1/7/11 1/27/11 2/16/11 3/8/11 3/28/11 4/17/11 5/7/11 5/27/11 6/16/11

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Budget
The budget is divided into past and future expenses.

RESEARCH BUDGET
Pizza Drinks Plates Cups Napkins Subtotal Focus Group Incentives

Actual Costs $ 86.88 $ 12.00 $0 $0 $0 $ 98.88

1st month subscription 2nd month subscription Subtotal Total (Focus Groups & Survey Monkey)

Survey Monkey

$ 19.99 $ 19.99 $ 39.98 $ 138.86

FUTURE EvENTS AND PROMOTIONAL BUDGET

18 Black ink 18 Full color Subtotal Catering by Jasons Deli* Drinks Invitations Fact Sheets Awards list Subtotal Bus Advertisements

Estimated Costs

$ 1,350 $ 1,800 $ 3,150 $ 659.40 $ 13.90 $ 23.60 $ 52.50 $ 52.50 $ 801.90

Meet and Greet Event*

*Estimated two representative from 30 organizations on campus *Estimated Food and Beverage for a total of 110 people *Jasons Deli Catered Meals, Deluxe Client Presentation, are $10.99 per person. It includes deluxe sandwich trays, fresh fruit trays, assorted dessert trays, chips and pickles. Drinks will be from Kroger with an estimated five sweet tea gallons and five unsweetened tea gallons.

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UGA 101 Article

UGA 101 Printing

$0 $ 19.99 $0 $0 $0 $ 2,175 per semester $ 6,196.88

Marketing/PR Intern* Survey Monkey subscription* Foursquare incentives Foursquare subscription New distribution boxes flare Intern cost 15 weeks at 20 hour per week Total Estimated Costs *Intern estimated at $7.25/hour *Suggested two-month Survey Monkey subscription

***Six students worked a total of 825.96 hours this semester. This is equivalent to one person working 20.65, 40 hour work weeks.

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Bibliography
About Us. The Red and Black. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.redandblack.com/>. Armstrong, C. L., and S. J. Collins. Reaching out: Newspaper credibility among Young Adult Readers. Mass Communication and Society 12 (2009): 97-114. Print. Associated Collegiate Press. 2010. 17 November 2010. <http://www.studentpress.org/acp/contests.html> Bressers, B., and L. Bergen. Few university students reading newspapers online. Newspaper Research Journal 3rd ser. 23.2 (2002): 32-45. Print. Collins, S. J., and C. L. Armstrong. U of Florida students prefer campus paper to free daily. Newspaper Research Journal, 29.1 (2008): 77-89. Print. Corrigan, D. Most college papers prefer printslow to move to online. St. Louis Journalism Review (2009): 18-20. Print. Downtown Athens Its All Here. 2010. 9 October 2010. <http://www.downtownathensga.com/businesses.php?category=29> Gibson, B. News coverage patterns in college dailies. College Media Review (1991): 16-17. Indvik, Lauren. Foursquare Targets College Students with New University Program. 16 September 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.mashable.com/> Macsai, Dan. Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter. 21 September 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.fastcompany.com> Montevideo, Harry. Personal interview. 9 October 2010. Office of Institutional Research. 2010. The University of Georgia. 14 October 2010. <http://www.oir.uga.edu> Pasternack, S., and S. H. Utt, Subject perception of newspaper characteristics based on front page design. Newspaper Research Journal 8.1 (1986): 29-35. Print.

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