USA Today tests online edition at colleges

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- USA Today has launched a new online initiative targeting college students, with Penn State, Indiana and Missouri the first schools to take part in the pilot program.

The "e-Edition" is free for students, faculty and staff. It is identical to the newspaper's print edition but with additional interactive and exclusive content, according to USA Today.

The newspaper is testing whether students will respond positively to the e-Edition format, spokeswoman Heidi Zimmerman said in an e-mail.

"The e-Edition product will also include a Saturday-Sunday edition called USA Today Extra, the first-ever regular weekend product from USA today," the newspaper said in literature describing the program provided Monday.

The Penn State edition, which officially launched last week, includes a university-themed story selected and written by the school. Students must remember to go to the E-edition site each day, or sign up for a daily e-mail that would link to stories, said Bill Mahon, vice president of university relations.

Penn State was picked as a partner because it was the first school to have a program promoting newspaper readership among college students in 1997, Mahon said. USA Today still is involved in that program.

"We think it had a big impact on our student body," Mahon said. "Students tell us they are more apt to speak up in class and keep up to speed on current affairs."

Newspapers in general have been searching for new sources of revenue and readership in trying to reverse years of declines amid the explosion of free online news sources.

USA Today last month reported the worst erosion in readership in its 27-year history, dropping more than 17 percent to an average circulation 1.90 million. It was surpassed as the nation's top-selling newspaper by The Wall Street Journal, whose average Monday-Friday circulation rose slightly to 2.02 million -- making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to gain readers.