CU Independent |
| Type | Student news website |
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| Founded | 1978 |
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| Headquarters | 1511 University Ave. Room 206b, 478 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0478
United States |
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| Website | cuindependent.com |
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The CU Independent is the student-run news publication for the University of Colorado Boulder. It has been digital-only since 2006, when it became one of the first major college newspapers to drop its print edition.[1]
The website has a staff of about 20 students serving as editors, reporters, and photographers. Most are journalism majors, but students from other majors also contribute.
The students update the online edition with new content at least once a day during the fall and spring semesters. The website serves desktop and laptop computers as well as smartphones and other mobile devices.
There are about 20 section editors who assign stories to reporters and work with the visual staff to produce photographs, videos, and graphics. Two managing editors and the editor-in-chief oversee the website.
In 2016[2] and 2019,[3] the CU Independent won an Online Pacemaker Award presented by the Associated Collegiate Press. It has also won several regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists including Best Independent Online Student Publication in 2014,[4] 2015,[5] 2016,[6] and 2018.[7]
History
The CU Independent was founded in 1978 as the Working Press but soon adopted the name Campus Press. It was launched by Mal Deans, a CU journalism instructor, to serve as a student-run newspaper after the Colorado Daily left campus and became a community newspaper.[8]
The Campus Press published a weekly printed edition in the fall and spring semesters as part of a journalism class. It began publishing online in April 1994, making it the first online newspaper in Colorado.
The Campus Press became an online-only publication in August 2006, years ahead of most college newspapers. The tagline on the website was changed from "CU's only independent student voice" to "CU's only student voice."[1]
The publication's name was changed to the CU Independent in August 2008 as it split from the journalism school's curriculum in the wake of a controversy over a student journalist's racially charged column.[9]
The CU Independent launched a new website on January 12, 2009, then again in September 2017 and again in August 2019.
In December 2019, the university's media college, which had been providing space and retaining staff pay, announced it would defund the CU Independent in favor of a faculty-led media enterprise. Staff of the CU Independent said they would continue to maintain the website and publish content under a new funding model separate from the college.[10]
Popular culture
A photograph taken by CU Independent staff member, and University of Colorado - Boulder student, Andy Duann, showing a falling bear, was upvoted 7,700 times and generated at least 400 comments on Reddit. It inspired the Tumblr pages Bearflop[16] and Falling Bear.[17] The image was also picked up by major internet news sites including The Guardian, The Washington Post,[18] and International Business Times, as well as Huffington Post, Boing Boing, and Mashable.
