September 30th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

WBAL reports the Diamondback, the University of Maryland's independent student paper, will disappear from racks in March and become a digital-only publication, the newspaper reports.

First published in 1909, the paper once published every weekday. In the last several years, it moved to Monday to Thursday distribution, then to weekly.

The board of Maryland Media Inc. and the paper's student leadership said online readership far surpasses their reach in print. Board President Tom Madigan said printing costs were set to exceed advertising revenue sometime during this school year.

The paper's alumni include "The Wire" creator David Simon, former Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Olesker and "Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder.

The paper has been independent of the university since 1971, when the paper printed multiple blank pages in protest of the Vietnam War and leadership subsequently cut off their funding.

It's the latest in a pattern of cutbacks in student media. The Towerlight, the independent paper at Towson University, moved in 2014 from twice-weekly to once-weekly. The Spokesman, supported by the journalism school at Morgan State University, moved from print to digital in 2012. The Greyhound, which serves Loyola University Maryland, ended its print edition in 2014.