Collegiate Press Service

Collegiate Press Service, also called College Press Service (CPS), was a news agency supplying stories to student newspapers. It operated under various owners and names from 1962 to c. 1999.

Collegiate Press Service

Formerly	College Press Service College Press Exchange (1991–c. 1999)
Company type	News agency
Industry	Student publications
Founded	1962; 62 years ago (1962)
Defunct	1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Headquarters	(1962–1971) Washington, D.C. (1971–c. 1991) Denver (c. 1991–c. 1999) Chicago , U.S.
Area served	United States
Key people	Bill Sonn, Floyd Norris (writer), Pete Wagner (cartoonist), Ed Stein (cartoonist)
Products	News articles and graphics
Owner	USSPA (1962–1971) Worker cooperative (1971–1978) Interrobang, Inc. (1978–1990) Tribune Media Services (1990–c. 1999)

History

United States Student Press Association

Collegiate Press Service began in 1962 as the news agency of the United States Student Press Association (USSPA),^[1] which at the time was receiving support and covert financing from right-wing organizations like Reader's Digest and the CIA.^[2][3] CPS was originally based in Washington, D.C..

As the decade moved along, CPS drifted more leftward, but in the summer of 1967, two radical staff members of CPS — Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom — were purged from the USSPA; they immediately established the alternative news agency Liberation News Service (LNS).^[4]

Worker cooperative; move to Denver

When USSPA suffered financial setbacks in 1971 (eventually going defunct), CPS was spun off and became a progressive news collective in Denver, Colorado.^[5] (CPS continued to have a D.C. office until 1973, when the Dispatch News Service went defunct and CPS had to leave their shared office space.)^[6]

In April 1978, CPS dissolved, selling its name (and client list) to two enduring advocates, cartoonist Ed Stein and writer Bill Sonn, and distributing funds from the sale to progressive groups in Denver.^[5]

Interrobang

Stein and Sonn converted the operation to a commercial enterprise, adding High School News & Graphics to its college and university press service.

Stein remained as co-publisher of CPS^[7] for only a short time, as he was appointed as the staff editorial cartoonist of the Rocky Mountain News later in 1978.^[8] Sonn renamed the whole operation Interrobang, Inc., with himself as President and CEO.^[9]

In 1990,^[9] Interrobang (and CPS) was acquired by Tribune Media Services (TMS), with Sonn staying on as CEO.

Tribune Media Services; College Press Exchange

In May 1991,^[9] TMS renamed CPS to College Press Exchange, Interrobang was dissolved,^[9] and Sonn left the organization. At that point, it was supplying news and graphics to 600 college newspapers and 400 high schools with a staff of three and dozens of freelance writers and cartoonists.^{[citation needed]}

In c. 1999, CPE was absorbed into the syndicate's existing service "tms Campus."^{[citation needed]}

References

Notes

1. "RISING UNREST". The New York Times. April 4, 1965. p. 191.
2. Crewdson, John M. (December 27, 1977). "C.I.A. established many links to journalists in U.S. and abroad". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
3. Berlet, p. 282.
4. McMillian, John Campbell (2014). Smoking Typewriters: the Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199376469.
5. Berlet, p. 285.
6. Berlet, pp. 286–287.
7. Stratton, Jim (Apr 3, 1992). "POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS IRRITATE CARTOONIST". Daily Press.
8. "AAEC - Cartoonist Profile: Ed Stein". Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Archived from the original on Dec 21, 2018.
9. "Bill Sonn, Author and Writer". LinkedIn. Retrieved Jan 29, 2024.

Sources

• Berlet, Chip (2011). "Muckraking Gadflies Buzz Reality". In Wachsberger, Ken (ed.). Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press. Voices from the Underground, Part 1. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press. pp. 267–297. ISBN 978-0870139833.
• Mungo, Raymond (1970). Famous Long Ago: My Life and Hard Times with Liberation News Service. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0807061831.
• Wachsberger, Ken, ed. (2011). Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press. Voices from the Underground, Part 1. East Lansing, MI: MSU Press. ISBN 978-0870139833.