The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences and the Gannett Company’s Media Network of Central Ohio (MNCO) have announced a groundbreaking relationship that expands MNCO’s responsibilities from printing and distributing The Lantern, Ohio State’s award-winning student newspaper, to include advertising sales and business oversight.

This first-of-its-kind agreement will enable the School to focus on its core educational mission, while assuring that The Lantern remains a viable and vibrant journalism laboratory for Ohio State students to serve the needs of their audience, The Ohio State University community.

“The Lantern newspaper has been recognized as the best in Ohio for the last two years and the website is a national leader. Advertising revenue jumped this year through the incredibly hard work of our student sales associates and professional business staff. This relationship with MNCO will continue that positive momentum as their decades of professional expertise takes The Lantern business, and brand, to new heights,” said Carroll Glynn, director, School of Communication. “This relationship allows School of Communication faculty and staff to focus exclusively on our core missions of educating and mentoring the next generation of award-winning, industry-leading journalists and communication professionals. The industry leaders at Gannett MNCO have exciting plans for building off the solid foundation established by The Lantern's professional business staff and student sales associates.”

“The Lantern has a long tradition of producing some of the nation’s top news professionals, by providing them the kind of top-notch ‘on-the-job’ training that is very hard to come by,” said Joseph E. Steinmetz, Executive Dean and Vice-Provost, College of Arts and Sciences. “This new relationship will help ensure that new generations of journalism students will have access to the same exceptional opportunities that our many successful journalism alumni have had through the years.”

According to Dan Caterinicchia, director, student news media, Ohio State students returned The Lantern to profitability through hard work, ingenuity and professionalism at a time when many media companies are struggling. Dan noted, “I am proud of their efforts, even prouder to work with them, and look forward to continuing to work with Ohio State students and MNCOin this new endeavor.”

Under terms of the agreement which takes effect on July 1, MNCO will manage daily business operations; strengthen and develop relationships with national, regional and local advertisers interested in reaching The Lantern’s passionate, diverse print and online readers; manage the sales force; and collaborate with the School to continually enhance The Lantern and thelantern.com brands.

“We are extremely excited and honored to expand our role with The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences beyond just the printing and distribution of the Lantern. Our working relationship over the last six years has been excellent. Each party brings something to the table in this relationship and we believe that the combination will help grow the Lantern and thelantern.com brands. Quality journalism is important to the university community and MNCO in both print and online. MNCO is well positioned to help the Lantern and thelantern.com continue its success,” said Bill Albrecht, President of the Media Network of Central Ohio.

“Rick Szabrak, the General Manager/Advertising Director of Eagle-Gazette Media in Lancaster, Ohio will add General Manager responsibilities for The Lantern and thelantern.com. Rick is a veteran of the media business working in circulation, marketing and advertising. Rick knows the Columbus market and has a keen interest in getting advertisers and marketers results.”

Lantern editorial decisions will remain completely independent and continue to be managed by a staff of up to 15 paid editors and a faculty adviser. MNCO’ssole involvement in editorial operations will be laying out advertisements on the pages that The Lantern editorial staff will fill with articles, graphics and other content to best inform its audience.

For more than 130 years, The Lantern has been the student voice at The Ohio State University. The paper typically prints 15,000 copies per day Monday-Thursday with an online edition on Friday and breaking news covered year-round on thelantern.com. It is an interdisciplinary laboratory student publication that is part of the School of Communication. The Lantern recently was named best college newspaper in the state by both the Ohio Newspaper Association and the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. www.thelantern.com

Gannett’s Media Network of Central Ohio is a network of ten newspaper/media outlets in Central Ohio. Gannett Co., Inc. is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations.