Plus: Embattled Tylenol parent company is acquired; the perils of using AI for financial reports.
Indiana University has lifted its prohibition on students from putting out print editions of The Indiana Daily Student, its 158-year-old student-run newspaper.
The Bloomington, Indiana flagship state college initially ordered students to stop printing news in physical copies of the paper and only publishing event guides. News could still be published online, the school said. Students said this amounted to censorship. At the same time, the college fired Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush.
The school claimed the decisions were due to budgetary deficits at the paper.
The twin moves drew widespread outcry from faculty and prominent alumni, including billionaire Mark Cuban, who wrote on X, “Not happy. Censorship isn’t the way.” One alumna pulled a $1.5 million planned bequest to the school. The changes spurred state and nationwide news coverage, including from the New York Times.
Now, the school has reversed course – at least temporarily. The IDS has been cleared to use their budget as they see fit – including printing news – through June 30, 2026.
In a letter to the paper, IU Chancellor David Reingold admitted mistakes.
“Let me be clear: my decision had nothing to do with editorial content of the IDS. And contrary to what has been posted on social media and published, Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period. The IDS is, and remains, editorially independent.
But perception, even when it is not grounded in fact, can carry the weight of reality. I recognize and accept that the campus has not handled recent decisions as well as we should have. Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.”
At the same time, Reingold was clear that the paper still faces serious economic challenges ahead.
“There has not been a sustainable model for decades, and the long-term financial viability of the IDS cannot be dismissed as trivial, especially in this resource-constrained environment. Put simply, the IDS is not immune to the financial realities of this campus and higher education more generally.”
Why it matters: This is a fraught moment for news nationwide. From student newspapers to reporters working at the Pentagon and CBS News, we are in a moment of seismic change of a political, economic and cultural sea change in the world of journalism.
Let’s give Indiana University the benefit of the doubt. The decisions it made were purely financial in nature. This is understandable – many legacy news outlets no longer put out print editions. This would never be a popular decision, but it could be messaged and made palatable so long as it charted a new path forward rather than simply saying what students could not do and firing their advisor.
The university gave students just two days notice that they could not print their next edition. This would never be accepted by the community. It gave the implication the school had something to hide, something it did not want seen in print. Yes, at the time the school said repeatedly that it was not an editorial decision, but the actions and the words seemed at odds.
Now, the school has paid a price, both reputationally and for continuing to print the paper for the rest of the academic year. Angry alumni and faculty. An emboldened and adversarial student media. It’s admitted that better communication could have helped this situation.
Imagine instead: An announcement, public and transparent, about the end of print at the end of the academic year. A celebration of the storied paper in the meantime. The university lifting up the paper and charting a course forward instead of tamping down and avoiding.
Now, the damage is done.
Editor’s Top Reads:
- Kenvue, the embattled parent company of Tylenol, among other brands, is set to be acquired by Kimberly-Clark. Kenvue has existed in its current [missing word?] for only two years, after it was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023. The most notable aspect of the company’s short life is set to be the accusations from Trump officials that Tylenol use in pregnancy is linked to autism, claims which the scientific community broadly denies. Even as Kenvue is consumed, the controversy won’t disappear. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the claims “complicated” the deal, but it was still able to go through. Still, Kenvue carries heavy baggage with it: Kimberly-Clark’s stock dipped 15% after the announcement. This will be an unusual acquisition, one likely to draw attention from the very highest levels of government. Kimberly-Clark is inheriting a major PR headache. Messaging that through acquisition and into the newly reforged Kimberly-Clark will test their communications department.
- More and more companies are using AI to write financial disclosures and reports – and the robots are getting better at it. ON Semiconductor told the Wall Street Journal that AI is capable of writing whole sections of their financial reporting and reducing the time necessary to produce the reports – first from 10 days to eight and soon down to just six. Obviously, you know that AI needs oversight, especially in a sensitive area like finances. But the bigger concern, aside from hallucinations, is that financial reporting may soon become boilerplate – and ignored by investors. “If disclosures begin to feel formulaic or emotionally empty, investors may disengage—not because they don’t care, but because they no longer believe management disclosures tell them anything real,” Keren Bar-Hava, head of the accounting department at the Hebrew University Business School, told the WSJ. “The danger is when AI replaces critical thinking and honest managerial voice.” Yes, there are gains to be made with AI. But when AI becomes the default expectation, good writing stands out all the more.
- In other AI news, Google has pulled an AI model after Senator Marsha Blackburn said the bot returned defamatory information about her, claiming she had a sexual relationship with a state trooper in 1987 and pressured him to provide prescription drugs. Blackburn said this was not just a hallucination, but an intentionally defamatory act. In response, Google took down the AI model, Gemma. In a statement, Google said the tool is not intended for consumers asking factual questions, but rather was meant only for developers in specialized applications, The Verge reported. Gemma is now available only through API. This presents a difficult conundrum. Yes, there are very real problems with AI models returning incorrect and harmful information. But not all AI models are meant for the same uses. Companies must continue to educate on the differences between these models as the entire world learns more about AI together.
Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
The post The Scoop: Indiana University flip-flops on stopping print newspaper – after the damage is done appeared first on PR Daily.
