USF student newspaper, The Oracle, ends print edition for good after nearly six decades

TAMPA, Fla. - In a basement on the Tampa campus is a fraternity of sorts. For decades, it was where the University of South Florida's student-journalists learned the grind and stress of creating a daily publication.

Late nights of copy editing, breaking news –  like Jim Levitt's termination – following an ongoing, developing story – like the Lakeland campus breaking away from the USF system – and just learning how to be a team taught them the intricacies of how a newspaper was published the old-school way.

The Oracle has been around since the 1960s, printing daily four times a week to keep students, staff, and faculty aware of the latest campus happenings. It was completely operated by a staff of students, who were mostly unpaid, and an adviser. Monday, the current students behind the paper announced it will be "a completely digital publication" starting on the first day of the fall semester, Aug. 22.

It's a decision they probably saw written on the walls. According to Editor & Publisher and the Pew Research Center, the total estimated weekday circulation of U.S. daily newspapers was 55.8 million in 2000, but that dropped to 24.2 million by 2020. 

In 2016, The Oracle went from printing Monday through Thursday every week, to just printing twice a week. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, print production as in-person instruction came to a halt on-campus. 

"And although we returned to printing once a week in fall 2021, the pickup was outpaced by the attention we had been receiving online since the lockdown," the letter read in part. "The Oracle’s social media following grew exponentially in 2020 as it was the only way readers could get USF news about COVID-19 regulations and guidance while away from campus. This revealed to us how important our online presence is in our digitized world."

READ: 1969 Tampa Pizza Hut ad featuring Grim Reaper one of many weird finds during USF Oracle digitization

USF has since taken on the daunting task of digitizing previous editions of The Oracle. In June, staff told FOX 13 it could take a decade to finish.

The archive is available at https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/usf_oracle_spc/

The Oracle had won several awards in its years, including being voted by the Society of Professional Journalists as the Best College Daily in the Nation in 1990 and Best Overall Student Daily in the Southeast in 2016.

The full letter to readers can be seen below:

With a mission to tell the university’s stories to its community, a group of enthusiastic students founded The Oracle and rolled out its first paper in 1966.

The conception of their vision was brought to life in a landscape that predated the computer, cell phone and internet. As a result, the team amassed over 40 members who were committed to individually organizing and pasting every page of the paper, four days a week.

Now, beginning Aug. 22, the first day of the fall 2022 semester, The Oracle will be a completely digital publication.

There will be no more print editions as we will keep the spirit of storytelling alive by publishing stories on our website four days a week — Monday through Thursday.

To begin the transition away from print, in spring 2016 The Oracle went from printing four days a week to two. This continued until the pandemic when we were forced to indefinitely cease print production alongside in-person instruction. And although we returned to printing once a week in fall 2021, the pickup was outpaced by the attention we had been receiving online since the lockdown.

The Oracle’s social media following grew exponentially in 2020 as it was the only way readers could get USF news about COVID-19 regulations and guidance while away from campus. This revealed to us how important our online presence is in our digitized world.

To continue The Oracle’s trend of adapting to the times, we have updated our web layout to make it more reader-friendly, appealing and competitive with other online news sources.  

Since our focus has shifted from putting together a print newspaper to our online presence, photography, video and other digital content will be emphasized more.

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We want to provide the campus community with as much information as possible, but we also need to hear from our readers. If you have a story tip, please email or DM us on social media.