Newsrooms across the country have been hit hard by the nation's troubled economy, and the Independent Florida Alligator is not immune to the industry's dip in morale.
Members of the staff said at a Tuesday night meeting that over the past few years, they have become increasingly frustrated over a number of issues, with long hours and low pay at the top of the list.
As a result, no one has applied for the position of editor-in-chief for the first time that Ed Barber, president emeritus of the student newspaper, can remember in his four decades with the Alligator, he said.
It is unclear what will happen if no one applies. Mike Foley, UF journalism professor, said it would be tough to put out a newspaper without an editor.
"You can't fly a plane without a pilot," Foley said.
Although the application deadline has been extended once, which isn't uncommon, the new deadline to pick up an application ends today. As of Wednesday, there have been no takers, said Tricia Carey, the Alligator's general manager.
The Alligator's Board of Directors will meet Dec. 12 to choose a new editor. Jean Chance, chairwoman of the board, said members could be forced to delay a decision until a qualified applicant is found. She thinks it's possible that someone will step up in time for the board's meeting.
The lack of interest in the position, along with the need to address a number of other issues within the organization, prompted Editor in Chief Jessica DaSilva to hold a meeting between the board and student staff members Tuesday night, where emotional reporters, editors and production staff aired their grievances with the paper.
Nicole Safker, the Alligator's photo editor, said staff members do the work of three to four people and are feeling burned out. The lack of money to pay its entire editorial staff minimum wage and buy equipment are also huge issues, Safker said.
"I feel like the job itself is still a lot of fun, but the overall experience isn't fun anymore," she said.
Students have to use their own laptops and software to edit photos and videos because the Alligator's equipment is so old, she said. She also said she calculated earlier this semester that she was making about $3 an hour.
"It's getting to the point where I can't do it anymore for financial reasons," she said.
Carey said decreasing advertising revenue is mainly to blame. The Alligator is entirely dependent on money from advertising, and companies have less money to spend at the Alligator, she said.
The paper's financial situation is not bad enough that it is in jeopardy of collapsing, she said.
"It's a bump in the road," she said. "We'll get through this."
Barber said the Alligator has survived a fire, hurricanes, demonstrators and even death threats, and the newspaper will get through this rut.
"I'm hoping the same sort of grit and same determination will continue among the student staff in this instance," he said.
DaSilva said she knows the Alligator could be much better if given the proper resources and if it could recruit more staff.
"I know my staff would blow everyone away with what they could produce if they had the equipment and the means and the pay and the time to do it," she said.
She said she would also like to see the Alligator focus more on online content and get more support from UF's College of Journalism and Communications and from the board.
DaSilva said the current state of the Alligator is upsetting.
"It hurts as an editor," she said. "It makes you feel like a parent who can't bring home enough money to, you know, feed your family.
"I just feel so powerless that I can't help my family because that's what these people have become to me," she said.
