The Orange County Register, which has won widespread praise for actually adding staffers and beefing up real news coverage, has gone behind a pay-wall. But before getting giddy about new publisher and CEO Aaron Kushner as a role model for saving print journalism, consider this: OCR just signed on to produce six-page promotional sections for three SoCal universities packed with positive news about their schools. In exchange, the schools—UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University—will fork over $275,000 apiece for a half-page ad in each of 45 sections of the Register during the next year. LA Times writes about it. Poynter elaborates.
Image: Luis Sinco/ Los Angeles Times