Daily Trojan hit with significant budget cut

The Daily Trojan can no longer afford to pay its staff or produce a daily print paper thanks to a significant budget cut, according to an internal announcement obtained by Morning, Trojan.

The paper, whose editorial operation is run by students but funded by USC, has historically paid its writers some $15 per story. Print production will now run three days a week rather than five.

“This is all really sudden and really upsetting but they’ve told us despite our objections that their decision is final,” wrote incoming editor-in-chief Stefano Fendrich in a Sunday evening Slack message, referring to USC’s Student Life department.

Fendrich declined to comment for this story.

The cut comes after the paper’s managing editors issued an impassioned, if ineffective, plea for “control of our budget” earlier this month. It also comes as USC’s central administration slashes budgets across the university to close a mind-boggling $158 million shortfall.

“It’s caused a lot of turmoil,” said a Daily Trojan editor who asked not to publish his name because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. “A lot of people are second-guessing whether they’ll come back.”

The editor added that he and several colleagues felt “blindsided” by the letter published by the paper’s managing editors earlier this month. They were not previously aware that such significant cuts were on the table, he said.

“We realize this news is frustrating, and may affect your ability to participate in the spring,” Fendrich wrote in his internal announcement. “We are working to find solutions and are meeting with USC administrators and leaders at other college newspapers to develop proposals.”

The cuts mark a tumultuous start for Fendrich, who will inherit a 112-year-old organization facing one of its most radical changes in recent memory.

Fendrich faces the formidable task of consolidating his staff while competing with rival Annenberg Media, whose digital coverage last year turned the outlet into a serious competitor of the Daily Trojan’s for the first time ever.

Annenberg Media faced its own budget cuts earlier this year which forced it to slash several paid newsroom roles, an editor at the outlet said. The school-affiliated publication pays its editors minimum wage — far more than the Daily Trojan’s traditional stipends — but does not compensate contributing reporters.