The Indiana University Media School announced recommendations Friday from the task force established last semester to create a "roadmap" for student media.
The report suggested a strengthened "umbrella" governance structure for student media, including WIUX, IU Student Television and the Indiana Daily Student, as well as an advisory body including the Media School dean, IU faculty and outside media professionals to review organizational structure and a public editor role to improve accountability.
The governing policy for the shared organizational structure would reaffirm editorial independence while enabling coordination between student media groups, the report stated.
The task force also explored options for student media's financial sustainability moving forward, with a focus on innovation and philanthropy.
Task Force on Editorial Independence and Sustainability members include IU faculty and alumni, student leaders from the IDS, WIUX, and IUSTV and multiple professionals in the media industry.
The next step, the report stated, is for IU and the Media School to refine and implement the plan.
Governance
The report recommended creating a centralized organization including all three student media organizations. Student media organizations would remain distinct, retaining their individual brands while operating under the shared organizational model.
The centralized organization would include a student media director – or another position determined by the Media School dean – who who would lead the organization. This person would act as “publisher or executive,” and could report to the dean or someone of the dean’s choosing.
The centralized organization’s governing policy would establish student media’s editorial independence and clearly define the roles of stakeholders.
The report stated that the Media School is best equipped to research options for the organization’s legal or organizational structure.
The report also recommended forming a Student Media Advisory Board to advise the organization on its long-term progress and operating plans.
The nine-to-11-member Student Media Advisory Board would include the Media School dean, professionals in the media industry and university faculty.
The board should also include members from outside the university, including alumni, and later iterations of the board could include a representative from the Bloomington community, the report states.
Additionally, the advisory board would be consulted in case of disagreements regarding major changes to organizations’ strategic and operating plans, which would be developed within the student media organizations with stakeholder input.
The task force also recommended the advisory board consider creating a public editor position. Public editors typically act as representatives for the newsroom’s audience while reviewing journalistic ethics within the paper.
Financial sustainability
The IDS, while previously in a long-standing financial deficit and predicted to turn up about $150,000 short this year, will likely end the year without a deficit, the report stated.
But the report also highlighted the challenging financial landscape of the media industry.
The report stated student media should be a “testing ground” for new media models, and emphasized the role of philanthropic funding and advertising revenue.
The task force recommended fundraising for a Student Media Center, hopefully supported by a minimum $5 million philanthropic endowment, to support a student media director salary and general operations, such as student wages and travel or equipment expenses.
Furthermore, the report suggested the Media School establish an Innovation Fund for three to five student-led media projects each year, such as newsletters, podcasts or digital models.
It also recommended pursuing philanthropic donations via alumni giving, foundations and partnerships, such as reporting initiatives aimed at rural or underserved groups. The IUB Student Media Fund would serve as the “primary vehicle” for these donations, while WIUX, IUSTV and the IDS would still retain their individual donation funds.
The report suggested the IDS’s special editions, which are profitable, could face declining long-term value.
Just this year, the IDS generated at least $200,000 in poster sales, most prominently from its IU Football National Championship poster.
The task force advised WIUX, IUSTV and the IDS explore multimedia products and revenue sources.
To help the IDS become profitable, the report said a working group of students and staff should form by the end of the year to identify cost inefficiencies. The group would consider reducing the minimum number of print papers produced per batch and would also evaluate spending on student compensation.
The report also recommended the Media School and IU explore the possibility that all three student media organizations could operate under a separate non-profit model with a “board-level relationship” to the Media School, similar to the precedent set by IU affiliated nonprofits like the Indiana University Student Foundation. The report said this could help with fundraising and financial sustainability.
Background
Media School dean David Tolchinsky announced the task force Oct. 20, 2025, six days after firing Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush and ordering the IDS to not print news in an upcoming special edition, then to stop its print edition altogether.
The announcement stated the task force would ensure IU student media’s editorial independence and financial sustainability, while building on the work of a 2024 committee that proposed reorganizing the IDS, WIUX and IUSTV into an “umbrella organization.”
In a letter responding to the decision, IDS co-editors-in-chief Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz said the ban on print was “unlawful censorship.” The decision attracted national news coverage and was condemned by multiple local and national advocacy groups, including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Student Press Law Center.
In a statement published in Miller and Hilkowitz's letter Oct. 15, IU Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold said the decision was not related to the newspaper’s editorial content and the university was “firmly committed” to free speech and independent student media.
IU later reversed the ban on print, with Reingold writing in an Oct. 30 letter to Miller and Hilkowitz that the IDS could decide how to use its budget through June 30, 2026, allowing it to continue producing print editions for the rest of the school year.
