Newspaper Targets Campuses

A weekly news magazine targeting college students, reportedly soon to begin publication by The Boston Herald, has local college newspapers worried about possible threats to their advertising revenues.

In a memo to editors at area college papers, Boston University Daily Free Press editor Tammy H. Audeh said last month that The Herald's campus edition of its weekly Scene magazine will draw advertisers by undercutting the ad rates charged by local college papers.

Audeh suggested in her memo that advertisers may switch to the Herald because it can offer a "professional product," greater circulation and a national reputation.

Audeh also alleged that Herald insiders indicate the magazine will try to lure staff members of college papers to write for them--possibly enticing them away with salary offers.

College editors yesterday expressed concern over a possible advertising assault from a professional paper with extensive capital.

"[Publisher] Rupert Murdoch and the Boston Herald have very deep pockets...they can out last any [college] paper" in an ad price war, said Josh Hartmann, chair of The MIT Tech.

Herald editors could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Herald editor Ken Chandler was quoted in the Boston Phoenix recently as saying, "We're sensitive to the fact that there are on-campus publications. It's not our intention to put them out of business."

However, editors at several local college papers said they remained concerned about the effect Scene might have on their finances.

Harvard Crimson President Julian E. Barnes '93 said cheap ads in the campus edition of Scene could diminish advertisers in his newspaper's own weekly magazine.

The college editors said they will not allow the Herald to take over their traditional markets without a fight.

Both Hartmann and Audeh said they are currently considering a proposal to form "an advertising compendium" with other campus publications in order boost circulation and remain competitive.