Why an investment in CMBAM will pay off

Plus, the finalists in the Reynolds Journalism Institute Student Innovation Competition, a UVA student reporter is fired, and great examples for alumni and anniversary pages.

Author

Barbara Allen
November 09, 2025

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Student staffers at the Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan were nice enough to host an open house in their newsroom during the conference.

Here's a sentence I'll probably never type again: I'm writing to you from a Cal State Fullerton food court so I can crib some free wi-fi from the Panda Express.

And while I love me some honey walnut shrimp, I'm actually here for the annual conference of the College Media Business and Advertising Managers (CMBAM), a nonprofit group that supports the revenue side of student media. An annual membership to CMBAM is $185 per institution and includes access to a resource library, a listserv and free entry into yearly awards.

The conference itself has been top-notch in terms of organization, management and programming. But what has impressed me most is the dozens of students in attendance, most of whom are not journalism majors, but who are committed to upholding the values of independent student journalism by working to support it financially.

It's been a fascinating and important reminder that the more student media can do to open their doors on both the revenue and editorial sides to non-journalism majors, the more young people can begin to understand and appreciate the value and difficulties of putting out sustainable daily journalism.

Democracy, y'all!

P.S. I might have lied a little bit above. Upon reflection, what is truly remarkable and memorable about this group is the incredibly supportive and close-knit nature of its professional members. If you oversee a journalism department or a student media organization and you have the capability of providing financial support via a one-year membership, whip out that checkbook, because I believe the support, resources and camaraderie of this group will really put some wind into your student media sails.

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Inside this week's newsletter:

  • • RJI's Student Innovation Contest finalists
  • • A student reporter fired for asking tough questions?
  • • Two different contests, each worth $5,000
  • • And much more!