Trying to Reimagine (and Save) a Student Paper

The Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is, like many student newspapers, facing an existential crisis driven by the changes wrought by the digital revolution and changing consumer habits. In an interview with Poynter, the newspaper's general manager, Betsy O'Donovan, discusses the results of the first year of a two-year effort to reimagine the financially ailing publication. Among the experiments: much greater transparency (with employees and readers) about the publication's financial state, changes in the publication's print/digital mix, and new approaches to business and journalism.