“Honestly, it would be reasonable to say it costs ACU $800+ per day or more to print the Optimist, a paper that I rarely see students read. Save our tuition money, and simply post it online.”

This is a Facebook status I woke up to on Thursday.

A few problems with this.

It costs us about $250 per issue to print the Optimist. Not $800.

Also, it doesn’t cost ACU a thing to print the Optimist. We sell ads, those things at the bottom of some of the inside pages that endorse a company or product. Nearly every year, our ad sales make us self-sustaining. Our ad sales cover not only our print costs but also our salaries, the latter being greater than the former.

Not that we get paid a lot. Our positions are technically an internship, because if we were paid the same amount hourly, none of us would be getting minimum wage.

We cost ACU nothing, not $800 per issue.

I commented on the status to correct the person who posted it. I won’t say who it was, because my goal isn’t to embarrass him or her, but to explain to those who may agree, like the four people who “liked” the status before I was able to comment and correct everything that was wrong in the status.

Which was everything.

That’s not the main issue here though. I’m more concerned with the four people who “liked” it. This means there are at least four others out there who believe the Optimist is a liability to ACU and not worth printing. And I’d be ignorant to not believe there are any others who didn’t see the status but might agree and don’t know the truth. This one’s for you guys.

Someone else commented on the status before I did. The comment said even if the Optimist cost ACU $1,000 per issue, it would only cost students $20 per year. Then the person who posted the status said he or she would rather pay $20 less in tuition than have the Optimist.

I don’t expect all students to understand the value of what we do. I’m reminded of that every time I pass out papers after Chapel, when maybe one out of every 10 people take a paper.

However, I believe a university, and a journalism program, without a student newspaper is incomplete.

Our work at the Optimist is a learning experience. Without it, we won’t be fully prepared for our careers after college.

Everyone on staff puts in a lot of work to create the entire publication, from our print product to our video packages to our website and the iPad app. You can choose not to read, even though it’s no cost to you at all if you do.
But, before spreading unfounded, speculative ideas about us, our work or our production, please just ask us. We’ll be glad to answer any and all of your questions.