The Retort

L'Editor

Wed January 13th, 2010 by Steven Pittenger

Most people know it takes a great deal of money to run a paper. There’s the actual printing cost, office supplies, wages, and if my proclivity for pissing of the religious right lives up to its reputation, lawyer’s fees, just to name a few. Now regardless of what you say about the paper’s quality, you can’t argue that Bailey and I have run one hell of a financially stable student organization. Sure we may not pinch pennies like Courtney Love pinches…never mind, it’s too easy.

My point is that we have managed to keep The Retort from going into the red, and if you’d seen The Retort in years past you would know that given our small budget, that is nothing short of miraculous. Lately however I’ve been hearing some rumors and gossip that a few people think The Retort receives too much funding.

Now, I don’t believe in dropping the f-bomb in my l’editor without good reason, or at least proper provocation, but this is one time where I have to ask, are you f*****g kidding me?! Saying The Retort receives too much money is like saying Courtney Love receives too much…again, too easy. We are one of the few student organizations that are required to raise a substantial portion of our own budget, this year in particular to the tune of $12,000. Compound this by the fact that although we made an ethical budget request (meaning we didn’t pad our budget) we still didn’t receive all we asked for, and you have a seriously UNDERFUNDED paper, not the other way around.

Also, in terms of “financial efficiency” it has been brought to my attention that several people have tossed the idea around of The Retort being an online paper only. Should you be one of those people entertaining such notions, I would like to offer you a real insight into why this won’t work. What makes online content so tricky (with the possible exception of databases and index sites) is that visual appeal and interactivity are almost always what make or break a site. In order to do that well you will need a web or content editor, as well as a graphic designer. Now, in the real world these positions bill out at around $35-50 an hour. I can say with 99% certainty that you aren’t going to find someone willing to do it for the money we are offering.

Advertising also becomes an issue because a number of businesses, especially local and smaller business don’t want to advertise online where content isn’t fixed and can end up being either misrepresentative or simply not cost effective. Essentially, for a semester you would be spending around $7000.00 to save $4000.00 which even the worst math major can tell you doesn’t add up. I suppose I would be less frustrated and indignant about the whole thing if I didn’t know that there are still some people out there who want The Retort to fail.

Let me be clear, we have had a large number of supporters and help from some really wonderful people, and for that I’m eternally grateful. But it doesn’t change the fact that a number of people, however small, would like nothing more than to see The Retort fail because they want that money for other things. I suppose it’s their right to feel that way, and even to act on those feelings, but if that was the plan all along, I have to wonder why there was the whole charade of restarting the paper in the first place.

We should realize the shortcomings of our paper are largely due to lack of funding and that most other college papers offer students credit or minimum wage as an incentive. This in turn leads to greater interest, which leads to more commitment, which leads to a better quality paper, which leads to a higher level of readership. It’s a process that certainly takes time, but the financial backing has to be there as well. I’m hopeful that all these rumors and second-hand stories will just be someone blustering and stroking their own ego, and not something that will see fruition.

If worse comes to worse though, you can believe I won’t go down without a fight. I want to thank all of our loyal readers and supporters and encourage you to keep supporting us. As long as there is any fight left in me, I will defend this paper for you.