An association for alumni and supporters of The Daily Texan, student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin

Hall of Fame Members

Dean offers support to keep Texan daily

By Nicole Cobler and Jordan Rudner / The Daily Texan At its annual budget meeting, the Texas Student Media board voted to keep The Daily Texan on its five-day a week print schedule after Roderick Hart, dean of the Moody College of Communications, promised to ask President William Powers Jr. for transitional funding to prevent TSM bankruptcy. “Moody will have a viable business plan in place by fall of 2017 that will put TSM on road for success,” Hart said in the meeting. “I am highly optimistic about our ability to turn around the TSM budget proposal.” TSM oversees five properties […]

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The Texan: Crisis To Recovery in 12 Months

The Media Committee of Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. has released a detailed approach outlining a path to profitability for The Daily Texan and Texas Student Media, both in the midst of a financial crisis. The report outlines 66 specific revenue ideas that can be implemented for little or no cash outlay, plus a variety of additional changes suggested as The Texan attempts to build a viable business model for transitioning to digital delivery.   The cover page is immediately below, followed by text of the full report: Contents About This Report Before Proceeding, Ponder … Executive Summary Financial […]

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Weekly Texan? Pushback begins at TSM meeting

By Nicole Cobler / The Daily Texan In the face of serious financial shortfalls, the Texas Student Media board discussed a budget proposal on Friday which would include reducing The Daily Texan to a weekly, rather than daily, printing schedule. A final vote to determine the budget is scheduled for next month. TSM board president Dave Player said moving to a weekly paper would not necessarily improve funding for the paper, because reduced print costs would be paired with reduced ability to run advertisements. “There’s some scenarios where, if we go weekly, we don’t actually save money because of that […]

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TSM considers cutting print from 5 days to 1

By Samantha Badgen / The Horn / Texas Student Media will meet on Friday, Feb. 21 to discuss its budget and the prospect of cutting back on The Daily Texan’s printing schedule. The Daily Texan might not stay daily for long. Texas Student Media (TSM) will soon be voting on whether to keep the campus newspaper daily, or whether to reduce its circulation to one day a week. “Decisions relating to the Texan’s publication frequency will be made as part of the annual budget process,” said Frank Serpas, TSTV-KVRX Studio Engineer and TSM Interim Director. “The budget was to be […]

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TSM moving under Moody College of Communication

By Jordan Rudner The Daily Texan   Texas Student Media and its entities, including The Daily Texan, are being moved under the domain of the Moody College of Communication, though many questions about the implications of the move remain unanswered. TSM, the umbrella organization that manages a number of student-produced media properties, including Cactus Yearbook, Texas Travesty, Texas Student TV, KVRX 91.7 FM and The Daily Texan, is currently housed under the Division of Student Affairs and has been under severe financial constraints for the last several years. Roderick Hart, dean of the Moody college, said he agreed to assume […]

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Inaugural Texan Hall of Fame Awards and Alumni Weekend

A picture and stories of Walter Cronkite attending a Texan party in the 1970s. A silent auction packed with journalistic treasures. A plethora of meetings with Texan staffers, UT journalism students and recent graduates. These are a few of the highlights of the inaugural 2013 Alumni Weekend and Texan Hall of Fame celebration. The Friends of The Daily Texan organization incorporated in June with a mission of promoting the long-term sustainability of the student newspaper. Since incorporation, a handful of dedicated volunteers have worked hard to put together this weekend. The idea was to simultaneously honor Texan alumni, hold a […]

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Day of Mentorship at The Daily Texan

We’re pleased to report that the Day of Mentorship at The Daily Texan was a huge success. Many thanks to our mentors who volunteered their time to dispense advice and share war stories with Texan reporters. Below are some photos taken by Texan photographer Jonathan Garza of the mentorship sessions.  

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Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, noted attorney sponsor Hall of Fame dinner

  Two of the state’s premier media organizations and one of Texas’ best known and most successful attorneys are sponsors of the Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. Hall of Fame dinner Friday night, Nov. 8. The list of sponsors includes: A.H. Belo Corporation and The Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman and Hartley Hampton, P.C., a respected Houston law firm owned by UT and Daily Texan-ex Hartley Hampton. “We are greatly appreciative of the support from these organizations to the Friends of The Daily Texan, in our group’s effort to assist The Texan as it works to build a […]

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Current students, alums/mentors to confer

As part of a weekend celebrating The Daily Texan — past, present and future — the Friends of The Daily Texan will host a day of mentorship and networking in The Daily Texan’s basement offices on Friday, Nov. 8. Current Texan staffers and other interested UT students are welcome to sign up for one-on-one meetings with 17 distinguished alumni. Alumni mentors hail from five decades of Daily Texans,  and have gone on to industry-leading positions in print, online and broadcast journalism, photography, cartooning, public affairs, public relations and publishing. They include: • Ana Cantu, former opinion editor and social media […]

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Full agenda for Texan alumni weekend

The schedule is now finalized for the Friends of The Daily Texan inaugural Alumni Weekend, which features a private tour of the Watergate papers at the Harry Ransom Center, an afternoon of mentorship at The Daily Texan basement, lunch at Scholz’s, a Segway tour of campus and a tour of the new Belo Center for New Media at the College of Communications. To register for any or all of these events, go to the below address and click on the link: http://www.texanfriends.org/texan-hall-of-fame/12-named-to-texan-hall-of-fame-2/ And for more information on Friends of The Texan, Inc. and alumni weekend, go to http://www.texanfriends.org/ The main […]

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