The Badger Herald

The Badger Herald is the nation's only truly independent daily student newspaper. It serves the University of Wisconsin-Madison community. The paper is published Monday through Friday during the academic year. It is available at newstands across campus and is also published on the Web. The print circulation is 16,000. It is the largest independent student newspaper in the United States.

The Badger Herald, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation run entirely by University of Wisconsin-Madison students and funded strictly by advertising revenue. The staff consists of more than 100, about half of whom are salaried employees. The office is located off-campus at 326 W. Gorham St., less than one block from State Street. The paper is printed by Capital Newspapers, home of the Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times.

History

The Badger Herald was founded in 1969 by a group of four students seeking a conservative alternative to the University of Wisconsin's then-primary student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, which editorialized against the Vietnam War and had close ties to leaders of the campus protest movement.

After several months of fundraising, scrounging for desks and typewriters, and renting offices where the Sunroom Cafe now stands (above Steve and Barry’s on State Street), the first issue of The Badger Herald was published Sept. 10, 1969. In the mid-1970s, the Herald moved to 550 State St. (above the current Q-Doba). When the Herald moved to its present-day offices at 326 W. Gorham St. in 1998, the editors kept much of the furniture, including the original desks and homemade light board.

Founding editor Pat Korten received financial support for the new paper from nationally known conservative writer William F. Buckley after the paper ran into financial trouble in 1971.

Today, The Badger Herald still is perceived as more conservative than The Daily Cardinal, although neither paper is particularly conservative by national standards. The Badger Herald instead tends to take strong positions on First Amendment issues that sometimes put it at odds with an academic community that would quash unpopular free expression (see below for examples). That stance often is mistaken for conservatism instead of defense of the First Amendment or the marketplace of ideas.

The Badger Herald was founded as a weekly newspaper, but went daily in 1987. It quickly established itself as the dominant student newspaper, overtaking the much-older Daily Cardinal by the early 1990s. Today, The Badger Herald has a signficantly larger circulation, readership and advertising base, and is considered the primary student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin.

In 2001 The Badger Herald published an advertisement by controversial conservative writer David Horowitz that argued against reparations for slavery. Weathering several protests and disruptions in circulation, The Herald refused to apologize for publishing the advertisement. After a flurry of national news coverage, the paper's status as an independent student newspaper stood firm.

On Feb. 13, 2006, The Badger Herald's editorial board published a controversial cartoon that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. In the accompanying column entitled "Sacred Images, Sacred Rights", the board said it considered the cartoon "offensive" but also deemed it "clearly newsworthy" and a "vehicle of facilitation in the grand marketplace of ideas."

Comics

The Badger Herald also publishes a comics page five days per week. Favorite comics among students include White Bread & Toast and the long-running Rocky the Herald Racoon.

Rocky the Herald Racoon

Rocky, a whiskey-loving Herald Racoon, appears daily in The Badger Herald. Rocky is known for his witty sarcasm and clever observations. Rocky the Herald Racoon is written and produced by Davy Mayer.

Other student publications

The Daily Cardinal publishes daily on a similar schedule and has a circulation of 10,000. The campus also hosts two bimonthly newspapers: The Mendota Beacon, founded in February 2005, and The Madison Observer, founded in April 2003.

Editors in Chief

1969-1970: Pat Korten
1979-1980: Michael Voss
1991-1992: Joel Kaphingst (now Joel Christopher)
1999-2000: Alex Tenant
2000-2001: Julie Bosman
2001-2002: Alex Conant
2002-2003: Lars Russell
2003-2004: Eric Cullen
2004-2005: Cristina Daglas
2005-2006: Mac VerStandig
2006-2007: Taylor Hughes

External links