{{Short description|American student media operation}} {{Infobox company | name = Texas Student Media | logo = TexasStudentMediaLogo.png | type = | traded_as = | former_name = Texas Student Publications, Inc. | foundation = 1921<ref name="Briscoe"/> | founder = | location = Austin, Texas | key_people = | industry = Publishing, Broadcast media | products = Newspapers, Magazines, Radio stations, Television stations | revenue = | operating_income = $2.3 million | net_income = | num_employees = | parent = University of Texas at Austin | subsid = | homepage = {{URL|https://texasstudentmedia.com}} | footnotes = }} '''Texas Student Media''' ('''TSM''') is an auxiliary enterprise of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and the largest student media operation in the United States, serving more than 53,000 students and 20,000 employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2012-13 catalog - Student Media |url=https://catalog.utexas.edu/archive/2012-13/general-information/student-services/student-media/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=catalog.utexas.edu |quote=Texas Student Media (TSM) is the largest student media enterprise in the country, with an annual budget of $1.8 million.}}</ref><ref name="moody.utexas.edu">{{Cite web|title=TSM Excellence Fund {{!}} Moody College of Communication|url=https://moody.utexas.edu/excellencefund|website=moody.utexas.edu|access-date=2025-11-28|language=en}}</ref> Each year, more than 1,500 students and 15 professional staff members contribute to TSM.<ref name="moody.utexas.edu"/>
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, TSM was under severe financial constraints, and in 2015, funding of up to $250,000 a year was allocated to cover anticipated deficits.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texas Student Media projected to end fiscal quarter in the black|url=https://thedailytexan.com/2015/02/09/texas-student-media-projected-to-end-fiscal-quarter-in-the-black/|website=The Daily Texan|access-date=2025-11-28|first=Samantha|last=Ketterer}}</ref> Since then, TSM has been in much stronger financial shape. For the first half of fiscal year 2024–25, TSM reported a net income of $273,848 and total equity amounting to more than $2 million.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FY25 Q2 financials|url=https://texasstudentmedia.com/mdocs-posts/fy25-q2-financials/|website=Texas Student Media|access-date=2025-11-28|language=en-US}}</ref>
==History== UT's first publication was the ''Cactus Yearbook'', established in 1894;<ref name="Briscoe">{{cite web |author=Texas Student Publications photographers |title=A Guide to the UT Texas Student Publications (UT TSP) Photographs, circa 1895-2004 |url=https://search.lib.utexas.edu/permalink/01UTAU_INST/be14ds/alma991041063459706011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527224440/https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/03283/cah-03283.html |archive-date=2018-05-27 |website=Texas Archival Resource Online |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin |department=Dolph Briscoe Center for American History}}</ref> followed in 1900 by the weekly ''Texan'' (which evolved into ''The Daily Texan'' in 1913). In 1902, the '''Student Association''' was formed, partly to oversee UT student publications. In 1921, as more publications emerged, '''Texas Student Publications, Inc.''' ('''TSP''') was formed.<ref name=Briscoe /> Over the years the organization oversaw a number of UT publications: * ''On Campus'' * ''The Coyote'' (1908 – 1915)<ref name="TSHA">{{Cite web |last=Battle |first=W. J. |date=1976 |title=University of Texas at Austin |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/university-of-texas-at-austin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704095809/https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/university-of-texas-at-austin |archive-date=2022-07-04 |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, TX}}</ref> — humor magazine banned by the Student Association<ref name="Blunderbuss">{{Cite web |last=The Blunderbuss |first= |date=2016-08-26 |title=Comic Relief |url=https://richardzelade.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/comic-relief/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902232927/https://richardzelade.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/comic-relief/ |archive-date=2017-09-02 |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=The Blunderbuss |language=en}}</ref> * ''Longhorn Magazine'' (1915 – 1929)<ref name=TSHA /> — literary journal merged with ''The Texas Ranger'' * ''The Scalper'' (Oct. 1919 – Nov. 1922) — humor magazine banned by the TSP for its perceived "immorality"<ref name=Blunderbuss /> * ''The Texas Ranger'' (Oct. 1923 – Jan. 1972) — humor magazine; a number of staffers (from the period 1959–1965) later went on to become key members of the underground comix scene * ''The Peregrinus'' (1949 – 2004) — University of Texas School of Law yearbook (named after Praetor Peregrinus, the patron saint of law students); first published by the Society of Peregrinus and taken over by TSP in 1970 * ''The Riata: The Student Literary Magazine of the University of Texas'' (Spring 1961 – Spring 1971) * ''Texas Engineering and Science Magazine'' (1965 – Jan. 1972) * ''The Pearl'' (Fall 1972 – Apr. 1977) — successor to ''The Texas Ranger''; monthly supplement to ''The Daily Texan'' that changed its name to ''The Maverick'' in its final year * ''Texas Law Forum'' * ''Texas Times''; {{oclc|9104814}} * ''UTMost'' (Fall 1978 – 1992) — the sixth UT magazine<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muñoz |first=Laura |last2=de la Garza |first2=Roddy |date=May 1992 |title=Texas Student Publications: Financial Decline |url=http://www.utwatch.org/archives/tejas/may1992_tsp.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220151432/http://www.utwatch.org/archives/tejas/may1992_tsp.html |archive-date=2016-12-20 |website=Tejas |publisher=UT Watch |pages=26, 45}}</ref>
''The Texas Ranger'', ''The Riata'', and ''Texas Engineering and Science Magazine'' were all cancelled in January 1972 by the TSP Board<ref>''Cactus Yearbook'' (University of Texas Austin, 1972), p. 66.</ref> because they were being published with more liabilities than assets.
In 2002, reflecting its increasing engagement with broadcast media, the organization changed its name to '''Texas Student Media'''.<ref name=Briscoe />
==Media properties== ''The Daily Texan'' is the most significant of TSM's properties. With a daily print circulation of 14,600 copies and an online presence that reaches an average of 10,600 visitors per day, ''The Daily Texan'' is the centerpiece of what has become a $2.3 million multimedia operation.<ref>{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Steel |title=Big Media on Campus |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115509164245730752 |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |date=August 9, 2006 |access-date=2007-06-24 }}</ref>
The following is a comprehensive list of Texas Student Media properties:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Our Entities |url=https://texasstudentmedia.com/who-we-are/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Texas Student Media |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin}}</ref>
*''The Daily Texan'', the most award-winning college newspaper in the United States, established in a previous form in 1900 **''DT Weekend'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtweekend.com/ |title=DT WEEKEND |website=www.dtweekend.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060102210535/http://www.dtweekend.com/ |archive-date=2006-01-02}}</ref> ''The Daily Texan's'' weekly entertainment resource **Longhorn Living,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.longhornliving.org/|title=Keyword Acquisitions|work=longhornliving.org}}</ref> the first student-created housing and apartment search engine for all University of Texas students *''The Texas Travesty'', the college humor publication with the largest circulation in the United States;<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-08 |title=About Us |url=https://texastravesty.com/?page_id=148 |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Texas Travesty |language=en-US}}</ref> originally independent but absorbed by TSP/TSM in 1998<ref name=Briscoe /> *Texas Student Television, one of few FCC-licensed Student television station in the United States; first went on air in 1987<ref>{{Cite web|title=TSTV: Inside Funding for UT's Student-Run TV Station {{!}} Communication Council|url=https://commcouncil.utexas.org/news/tstv-inside-funding-uts-student-run-tv-station|website=commcouncil.utexas.org|access-date=2025-11-28|language=en}}</ref> *''Cactus Yearbook'', the school's yearbook, established in 1894 *KVRX-FM, one of the few completely student-run college radio stations in the United States *''Vector Magazine'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vector Magazine |url=https://sec.engr.utexas.edu/organizations/vector/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=sec.engr.utexas.edu |publisher=University of Texas at Austin}}</ref> a monthly publication within the Cockrell School of Engineering *BurntX<ref>{{Cite web |title=About BurntX {{!}} Burnt X |url=https://www.burntx.com/?page_id=77 |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=www.burntx.com}}</ref> *''Texas Connect''<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://texasconnect.utexas.edu/about/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Texas Connect |language=en-US}}</ref> *Bevo Video Productions<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bevo Video Productions – Video Production by Longhorns for Longhorns |url=https://bevovideo.com/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=bevovideo.com}}</ref>
==Board of Operating Trustees== A joint student-faculty Board of Operating Trustees sets policy and oversees the operation of student media on behalf of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. The Board also appoints the Director of Student Media, who oversees the daily business functions of TSM. The Director serves renewable annual terms. The Board of Operating Trustees is composed of three faculty members appointed to two year terms by the UT President, two outside media professionals appointed to two year terms by the UT President, and six students elected by the general student body to two year terms. {{Update|section|date=October 2022}}
=== Board presidents === *Natasha Solce (2000–2001) *Craig Daniel (2001–2002) *Michael M. Hoffman (2002–2003) *Coleman Lewis (2003–2004) *Cale McDowell (2004–2005) *Camden Gilman (2005–2006) *A.J. Bauer (2006–2007) *Zachary Warmbrodt (2007–2008) *Benjamin Trotter (2008–2009) *Nicole Juneau (2009–2010) *Brennan Lawler (2010–2011)
=== Board Vice Presidents === *Michael Hoffman (2001–2002) *Jonathan Lee (2002–2004) *Brandon Chicotsky (2006–2007) *Nicole Juneau (2008–2009) *Mary Dunn (2009–2011)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://texasstudentmedia.com/}}
{{University of Texas at Austin|studentlife}} {{Portal|Media}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Texas Student Media