Illinois Issues to be digital only
Wednesday, Jul 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Issues is abandoning its print version…
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for a 30 percent cut to state funding for higher education. The state does not a have a budget for the current fiscal year. As long as lawmakers and the governor fail to come to terms on a spending plan, all we have to work with are estimates of what our final budget might look like.
We are modeling a 20 percent cut in our state support, which is passed through the University of Illinois Springfield. This results in a $120,000 projected deficit for Illinois Issues and a $70,000 projected deficit for WUIS.
We cannot wait to see what will happen. We must make contract decision for the new fiscal year, which is already upon us. And we must make tough choices now to avoid what could be potentially deeper cuts later in the fiscal year, depending on the level of funding we eventually receive.
After much evaluation, we have decided to go digital only. This will be the final print edition of Illinois Issues. When this reality first became apparent, it was difficult for us to accept. Those who have been with the magazine for years are proud of its history and where it stands today. But we have also watched subscription numbers steadily decline in the recent past. We had to ask ourselves: What are the best ways to use our resources and keep the mission of Illinois Issues alive? After consulting with the advisory board and others with longstanding ties to the magazine, the answer became obvious. While it may be difficult to let go of the print edition, it allows us to focus our efforts online, where we have the potential to bring important stories to more people. It also allows us to offer those stories for free — with the support of donors who believe that good public policy journalism is for everyone.
Eliminating print will not close our budget gap, but the choice protects us from having to consider staff cuts. It will also hopefully position us to eventually expand our online offerings to an app that would include news and a version of our Roster of State Government Officials.
- anon. - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:48 am:
A very smart move.
- LizPhairTax - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:50 am:
Being a print entity largely dependent upon state funding is a dangerous intersection.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:51 am:
Another unfortunate victim of technology. It was a great paper resource and hopefully it will continue to be a great resource in it’s new iteration.
- anon - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:52 am:
In the not to distant future, all newspapers will be digital. It will be the only avenue for survival.
- A guy - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:54 am:
They may be being pushed into making the best possible decision and go on to appreciate it. Some of what was impossible with print will become infinitely easier going forward. Good luck.
- History Prof - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:56 am:
I meant “no WAM.”
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 9:58 am:
Inevitable.
Magazines that can attract advertisers who still rely on high-end photography to sell their goods will stay in print. Think “Vogue,” “Cosmo,” “GQ,” “Vanity Fair,” etc.
Others, not so much.
- Federalist - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:02 am:
The inevitable and it will spread across the media landscape.
And no, I don’t like it.
- Nick Name - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:04 am:
Everyone appears to be gushing over the notion that digital is better. But you’re glossing over a very troubling element to this story: the first sentence.
“Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for a 30 percent cut to state funding for higher education.”
Those land grant universities, established so that the middle class, the working class, and even the poor could afford college? Now they’re just for the elite, same as private universities. But hey, everyone can still go: just get loans so you can be in debt the rest of your lives. Rauner and his 1-percenters win again.
- A guy - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:04 am:
Sling, that’s quite a rack you’ve got (of reading material) lol
- Aschockedobserver - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:07 am:
Good move to go digital. Sure most or their readers have desktop, laptop, smart phone, tablet or all 4. When was last time Rich faxed a print/hard copy of the cap fax?
- RNUG - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:08 am:
Disclosure: I publish a quarterly journal (print & electronic) and serve as archivist for an organization dedicated to preserving automotive history … so I probably have a bit of bias.
Having seen this happen in multiple NFP and hobbyist organizations, I have mixed feelings.
Financially smart and allows for extended articles that you can’t normally fit into print. But there is a certain percentage of the readers who don’t / won’t use the electronic format. That reader base will be lost.
The biggest problem with electronic media is long term / archival storage. Electronic recordings are not forever; they can be lost / erased / deliberately destroyed. Magnetic bits fade. As technology moves forward, the means to read older formats drops off. Proper storage management and refresh is vital, more so than for paper.
While every storage medium has it’s pluses and minuses, for now at least, the truth is that paper really is generally the best long term storage medium. Unfortunately, paper is just not the most cost effective distribution medium anymore.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:13 am:
Guy, reading’s a good thing,
- Joe M - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:15 am:
I hope that Illinois Issues will keep an accessible archive of all of their issues. Too many agencies are short-sighted and only keep a limited time frame of recent publications and documents when they go totally online. Then the rest of that information can be lost forever.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:15 am:
=== When was last time Rich faxed a print/hard copy of the cap fax?===
This morning.
- I Love Trees - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:19 am:
==But there is a certain percentage of the readers who don’t / won’t use the electronic format. That reader base will be lost.==
In the short term, perhaps. In the long term, no. The cost of printing and distributing a paper product will, inevitably, end the days of printed products, and as printed products disappear, people who like to read are going to migrate to digital rather than stop reading. Capitol Fax seems a good example. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for Rich to do what he is doing and be as successful as he is if he had to pay for print and distribution.
- The Historian - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:24 am:
Given what I do, I have more occasion that most folks to know how *incredibly* valuable Illinois Issues’ archive is for anyone interested in the state’s recent political & policy history. The folks there should balance their understandable sadness with an appreciation that they’ve made & continue to make indelible, ongoing contributions –just earlier this AM I printed a 1997 article by Rick Pearson on MJM! Best wishes!
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:36 am:
Illinois Issues has been a wonderful resource over the years. I look forward to the digital edition but will miss the printed version.
- Joe M - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:43 am:
I meant to say that Illinois Issues is counting on a 20% reduction for the time being, not 10%
- Stuff Happens - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:43 am:
@RNUG:
== Electronic recordings are not forever; they can be lost / erased / deliberately destroyed…
And don’t forget: modified.
- A guy - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:49 am:
== Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:13 am:
Guy, reading’s a good thing,===
Agreed. I love the smell of ink in the morning. There’s a reason no one churns butter anymore. Your mags are strong and will survive the electronic revolution for a good while because of the image values. I just knew you were a GQ guy, I just did!
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:54 am:
I am reduced to print being only for my kid’s books and magazines. So, print is great for people who still need a lot of pictures.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:58 am:
Guy, as long as that caterpillar stays very hungry and someone hops on pop, I’m sure your reading material will remain in print, too.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 11:03 am:
If people could just learn to live with less then Gov Rauner and the corporations and their CEO’s could do better.
Higher Education is just a nuisance.
- A guy - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 11:13 am:
== Wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 10:58 am:
Guy, as long as that caterpillar stays very hungry and someone hops on pop, I’m sure your reading material will remain in print, too.===
Man, you’ve got some really terrific stuff. I really do need to borrow from that outstanding collection. See. Word. Sling. It’s a fave.
- Lars - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 11:16 am:
I just accessed online an archived Illinois Issues from 1991. Not worried.
Put your energy into digital audience growth. It doesn’t happen without work. Look at what Reboot and Illinois Policy Institute have done.
- Joe M - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 11:25 am:
==I just accessed online an archived Illinois Issues from 1991. Not worried.==
What about Volumes 1 (1975) thru volumes 16 (1990)?
- JameyDunn - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 12:06 pm:
Thanks for all the feedback. Rich has always been a great booster of Illinois Issues (Thanks, Rich!), and I am glad to see his readers care about its future. Just wanted to let Joe M and anybody else who is interested know that the earlier archives are available online here: http://www.lib.niu.edu/iilistyrs.html
- Aschockedobserver - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 12:24 pm:
–this morning– throw that fax machine away. jk
- anon - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 1:05 pm:
Nick Name——-College got very expensive waaaay before you ever heard the name Bruce Rauner. And to say the poor can’t afford is just not accurate. Go to a community college, take classes online to fulfill electives and if you want to go to UIUC, ISU,etc. take out some loans, work part time and try to graduate in 4 years.
There are ways!
- History Prof - Wednesday, Jul 22, 15 @ 3:17 pm:
Anon,
The fact that “there are ways” does not mean that current funding models for education are ideal. The argument is that shifting the cost of education onto the student and his or her parents contributes in many ways to the destruction of the middle class — not in every case, of course, but in the aggregate, which is what matters.
And the connection to Rauner is not that he precipitated this development (the destruction of the middle class) but that his policies (probably intentionally) will make the problem worse.
Why should you care, if you managed to make into the upper middle class or above? Never mind the ethics of it. Never mind the inter-generational injustice of people who benefited from free education denying it to their offspring. It is in you own interest to expand the middle class and to promote it’s buying power, because that’s your only avenue to economic growth.
Tax progressively: fund education!