One student creator. 12,000 newsletter subscribers. Zero competition.

How a USC student is ‘setting a precedent’ for newsletters and collegiate creator journalism

Tomo Chien’s newsletter has served multiple purposes.

He’s provided hard news exclusives, like mass layoffs at the University of Southern California. He’s also engaged with his audience over collegiate humor, like his yearly competition for subscribers to guess the following year’s tuition cost. This year, the winner earned $500 worth of credit at Cannabis House, a local dispensary.

Chien, a 22-year-old USC journalism student, is the creator of “Morning, Trojan,” weekday newsletter with five quick-hit story summaries about USC, Los Angeles and California. He says he has about 12,000 subscribers, and proudly calls Morning, Trojan the only student news outlet not supported financially by USC. Instead, it’s funded by donations and advertisements — $1,500 will get advertisers a month of banner ads, for example.