To my fellow Shockers,

Through my time at Wichita State, I have seen the power of an education truly come to fruition. An education is so much more than just knowledge that we carry forth into the world. An education can only truly be created by the combination of success, failure, problem solving, support, guidance and a sprinkle of chaos.

The Sunflower provides opportunities that perfectly cultivate an unmatched education. There are national successes and occasional AP formatting errors, problems that need solved with the jammed printer and guidance from the industry’s best, all decadently dusted with an ounce of chaos as we rush to get the paper in to meet the deadline.  As we double the size of our campus in search of real-world student opportunities, we are planning to cut the most foundational ones that have held fast for over 100 years.

According to a survey conducted by the Media Insight Project, an initiative of the American Press Institute (API) and The Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds pay for their news. Among these payers, 70 percent consume news multiple times in the day (1). This is foundational proof that there is a well-grounded desire for news from our student body. Moreover, they are willing to pay for it. If statistics show that students are willing to pay for news, why are we putting false words into students’ mouths and denying them a student news source?

Though the statistics above clearly show the desire for news, there is a drastically different story backing advertising. Before the recession, The Sunflower comfortably took in around $150,000 per year of advertising revenue. Once the recession hit, marketing budgets were the first to go by the wayside. This caused The Sunflower to make major systematic changes to the process of reporting news. From 2008 to 2017, The Sunflower plummeted yearly from $120,000+ a year to $40,000. That is a 66 percent decrease in yearly advertising revenue. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of year-end SEC filings of publicly traded newspaper companies (2013-2016), data showed newspaper ad revenue dropping by more than 40 percent without accounting for inflation and decreased printed papers per week (2, 3). In other words, we are facing the same battle as The New York Times and the Wichita Eagle. The only thing holding The Sunflower back was a platform to digitally gain revenue. With improved editorial and marketing approaches to TheSunflower.com, we now have ads that are reaching over 1.6 million views online. Finally, advertisers are starting to value our digital presence enough to consider it as an alternative outlet compared to classic print advertisements.

As an institution, we strive to better students to one day serve our community. We pour endless amounts of support into engineering opportunities, Student Government, and our business school so students have the opportunity to gain the real-world experience that we Shockers hold so near to our hearts. What confuses me is that no one seems to be fazed by going against our own mission for the Innovation Campus. You want real jobs for students? We have been offering student jobs for over 100 years.

The Sunflower is not a perfect operation. As the Advertising Manager, I have had a scarce year in the area of ad sales. I want to be fully transparent about that. I humbly share that my time at The Sunflower has shown me that I am a struggling salesman. This is one of the learning moments that has been a defining moment in my education at Wichita State. However, I don’t want us to get confused. There is no evidence that the national downturn of newspaper revenue over the past ten years is caused by a lack of “effort”. As I become more aware of my weaknesses, I also learn to apply more of my strengths to the job. This is clearly evident in all of the new processes and marketing material that has been put into action. Wichita State as a university has had its fair share of struggles and failures at times, but I have never once questioned the “effort” of our administration. I have faith that they are doing the best that they are able to and I ask myself how I am able to lend a helping hand.

If the problem honestly is the amount of “effort” put forth by the advertising department, I bear that weight solely on my own shoulders as the Advertising Manager. There is no need to sell a beautiful running car just because it has one faulty part. “Effort” is a problem that needs to be expressed to our publications board and dealt with via our executive committee according to The Sunflower’s bylaws.

I am a man of character, and I stand with faith in your ability to better Wichita State for the coming 100 years. There is a proven desire for a paper on campus and a national validity to the continual decreases in advertising revenue across the country. It’s not just us fighting the battle of advertising. Don’t let us be the first ones to drop out of the fight.

I want to encourage you to be the members that truly believe in the real purpose of innovation. Be remembered by the positive mark you left on Wichita State’s history.

With faith,

Christian Yost

The Sunflower

Ad Manager

[email protected]