Categories Humor newspaper Format Newspaper | Frequency 6x/year Company Texas Student Media | |
Founder Kevin Butler and Brad Butler First issue 1997; 20 years ago (1997) |
The Texas Travesty describes itself as the United States' "largest student-produced satirical newspaper". All production and creative work takes place at The University of Texas at Austin.
Contents
The Travesty began in 1997 as an independent, online-only publication by the Butler brothers: Kevin Butler (a former editorial columnist for The Daily Texan) and Brad Butler. Within a year, the publication successfully appealed for inclusion within Texas Student Media (TSM, officially named Texas Student Publications), an auxiliary enterprise of the university which publishes The Daily Texan and produces KVRX and TSTV.
The staff produces six issues each school year, three each long semester. Currently, the only issue produced during the summer is a "Best Of" issue from the previous year. Additionally, a short "Freshman Guide" issue is produced at the beginning of each school year. According to the TSM itself, the Travesty currently has a print distribution of roughly 25,000 copies, in addition to thousands of online readers.
The Travesty is supported by advertising revenue. As a publication within TSM, the paper shares some revenue and expenses with the general TSM organization. The editor-in-chief holds a non-voting position on the TSM board of directors.
Several of the Travesty's writers and editors went on to publish That Other Paper, a once-popular but now-defunct alternative weekly in Austin, Texas.