BOULDER - It's been nearly a year since the University of Colorado at Boulder's Campus Press decided to give up print and move its reporting online.

"It's simply the right thing to do," said Amy Herdy, instructor for the student-run news source. "More and more ... with print costs, advertising and the competitiveness of print - the future is the Web."

The Indiana University School of Journalism had a robust student media environment when Paul Voakes left to be the dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado in July 2003. He inherited the Campus Press, an anemic weekly tabloid that was part of a class.

In Boulder he found the Colorado Daily, which had spun off from CU decades earlier, engaged in a vigorous battle with the Camera for every advertising dollar.

"From a business point of view it was a tough market to enter," Voakes said.From his arrival he was looking for a way to give students a more complete journalistic experience. Meanwhile, the data on 18- to 25-year-old readers indicated there was a precipitous decline in newspaper readership. More and more they were getting information online.

"You don't need to have a crystal ball to see where people will get their news in the future," Voakes said.

Going online was a natural alternative.

"If any new business is able to establish a locale online it should be a college paper because of the demographic," Voakes said. He added that the 28,500 students at CU are a young, "captive audience."

Unlike Colorado State's Rocky Mountain Collegian, which has a long and successful tradition with print media, the Campus Press did not have a revenue stream to lose.

Despite new online efforts at the Camera in Boulder, Editor Kevin Kaufman insists that does not signal any reduction in commitment to the print media. "We're still printing, and we'll keep printing."

The newspaper has added blogs, podcasts, chats, etc. to its Web site. "In terms of Internet media, we're expanding that rapidly," Kaufman said.

Voakes said the production of compelling content is the best way to bring more hits to your Web site.

"We wanted to establish ourselves as the new generation of journalism," said Justin Kutner, managing editor of the Campus Press.

The Web site, thecampuspress.com, features movies, graphics, slide shows, podcasts and interactive polling. The content has been accelerated as well.

Kutner has been with the publication since spring 2006. He said the move to the Web was a single jump. The contract with its printer expired, and it did not renew. CU is one of the first universities in the country to be solely online, and the Campus Press has become well known for that reason.

"I think with the transition to online we've given ourselves the go-ahead to cover more edgier subjects," Kutner said. One article in its weekly sex column was how to have a "threesome."

With an online news source there's a greater emphasis on immediacy. The Campus Press is updated when stories break, and those stories are modified throughout the day with any immediate changes.

"I came from 9 News and have been in several markets," Herdy said. "The emphasis and mind-set of journalism has changed greatly. It used to be to hold the story until it airs. You wouldn't hint at a story before it ran. Now the emphasis is get it online. I think it's a very smart mentality. Don't wait for anything."

Because the site is updated frequently, the news in the evening might be different from the news in the morning. Mistakes can also be corrected almost immediately.

The Campus Press generates about $5,000 a year in ad revenue. An agreement with College Publisher provides the Web site formatting in exchange for placing syndicated ads on the site. The Campus Press has the luxury of being choosy about the few ads on the site. "We look for positive ads," Kutner said.

The editor in chief as well as section, copy and campus editors are paid a small stipend by the university and reporters receive class credit. The bulk of the expense is marketing to the university community and the public. The editor in chief as well as section, copy and campus editors are paid a small stipend by the university.

Once the two-year contract with College Publisher is up, Voakes hopes the Campus Press will develop its own site and look.

The students also have attempted to create a print magazine.

"We decided we wanted to do something that's never been done before," Kutner said. They wanted to create the entire magazine themselves, independently and learn about each step.

"Our hopes were a little squashed," Kutner said. "We just fell a little short ... to be able to put it out each month."

He said they will continue their efforts toward a magazine in the future.

As for the future of the journalists, Kutner said the students feel uncertain. They see jobs being cut and technology changing rapidly.

"Information doesn't need to be disseminated by as many people. We don't know if there'll be jobs when we graduate."