Indiana University fires IDS adviser amid dispute over student newspaper’s content
The director of student media at Indiana University has been fired amid a dispute between university administration and editors of the Indiana Daily Students over what content to print in the student newspaper.
As director of student media, Jim Rodenbush did not directly control or have any say over the content published on IDS. Agreement between IDS and the university. But he told IndyStar that his firing followed a series of meetings with the IU School of Media administration that became increasingly apparent that they expected him to formally ban students from publishing news.
“We are alarmed, but not shocked, by the Media School administration’s decision to terminate Jim based on his commitment to defending our First Amendment rights,” Student Editors-in-Chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said in a statement. they said. “All School of Media and IU students, faculty and staff should be terrified by this blatant attack on someone who stood for what was right.”
IU spokesman Mark Bode said in a statement that the campus is shifting resources to prioritize digital media over print while addressing the publication’s financial shortfall. He said the university would not comment on personnel matters.
“Editorial control remains entirely with IDS leadership, and the university will continue to work closely with them to ensure the strength, sustainability, and independence of student media at IU,” the statement said.
Rodenbush received the termination letter during an Oct. 14 meeting with Media School Dean David Tolchinsky. In the letter, Tolchinsky said the university administration had lost confidence in his ability to communicate on behalf of the university. It was stated that he was not eligible for re-recruitment by IU.
“Your lack of leadership and ability to work in accordance with the University’s guidance on the Student Media Plan is unacceptable,” Tolchinsky said in his letter. “Therefore, we are advancing your separation from the University with immediate effect.”
rodenbush Joined IDS in May 2018 after college Previous student suggests media leader’s resignation. The paper’s student leadership described the situation at the time as “overreaching decisions that threatened the independence of IDS.” Then-Media School Dean James Shanahan refuted the claim, saying the school never tried to influence the newspaper’s content.
Portrait of former IU student media director Jim Rodenbush
The content of IDS newspapers at the center of the dispute
Rodenbush’s departure comes as the university pressures student leadership to remove news content from its Oct. 16 print newspaper. Talking about financial difficulties and new business action planIDS reduced print production to seven times per period last January.
The business action plan was prepared by IU leadership using suggestions, but not direct input, from a special committee of students, alumni, and professional staff in student media. IDS has experienced a steady decline in print advertising revenue over the past two decades. IDS effectively ran out of money in 2021 and was let go by the Media School working with deficit For three years, starting from the 2021-22 financial year. By 2024, IDS’s deficit was over $500,000.
Among other things, the action plan effectively combined the staff and resources of IDS, student radio station WIUX, and student television program IUSTV into a single “umbrella organization” and reduced IDS’s print schedule from weekly publications to several “special editions” throughout the semester.
“Special editions” such as the Homecoming and Little 500 editions have long been published by IDS as newspapers containing both regular news and special supplements. But Rodenbush said that in recent months, Media School leadership has argued with IDS about what “special editions” mean.
According to an Oct. 7 email obtained by IndyStar, Rodenbush forwarded direction from the School of Media administration that IDS’ print publication focus solely on a specific theme, such as homecoming or fall sports, and “contain no other news, and especially not traditional front-page news.”
Termination letter from IU student media director Jim Rodenbush
Legal expert condemns ‘blatant censorship’
Mike Hiestand, senior counsel for the Student Press Law Center, said the university’s attempt to control what appears in the newspaper affects editorial content and therefore constitutes “blatant censorship.”
“The suggestion that students publish a homecoming edition devoid of anything or anything that might even resemble news other than talk of homecoming activities,” he said, “I mean, it’s ludicrous and absolutely illegal.”
Student journalists Hilkowitz and Miller said in a statement that management sought to curb both their ability to publish news and conversation about the publication’s future that “might conflict with (administrators’) decisions.”
“Dean David Tolckinsky and Associate Dean Galen Calvio have a clear misunderstanding that the purpose of the Indiana Daily Student and Media School is to benefit students, not the students themselves,” the statement reads. “Indiana Daily Students will continue to fight for our right to publish and report difficult stories even if administrators want to stop us.”
IndyStar First Amendment reporter Cate Charron is the former editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Students, the student newspaper at Indiana University at Bloomington.
USA TODAY Network – Indiana’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Do you have a story to tell? Reach Cate Charron at ccharron@indystar.com or by email at X: @CateCharron or Signal at @cate.charron.28.
Contact Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @brianwritesnews.
This article first appeared in the Indianapolis Star: IU fires student newspaper advisor over disagreement over IDS content
