The Prodigy is the official student news source of the University of California, Merced (UC Merced). It was established in the 2006 spring academic semester. The organization was only able to release one issue that first semester, and there were no issues released during the 2006-07 academic year. In fall 2007, under new leadership, The Prodigy Newspaper released issues on a monthly schedule. In January 2010, The Prodigy increased to a bi-weekly release schedule. In August 2011, The Prodigy launched a website. In 2015, The Prodigy moved from a paper publishing to being completely online. This change caused The Prodigy to reorganize it's leadership and staff as well as officially changing the name of the organization from "The Prodigy Newspaper" to "The Prodigy News." The Prodigy continues to publish content online has made official plans to eventually incorporate video news through their YouTube Channel "Prodigy Active."
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Leadership and governance structure
The Prodigy is a student operated organization managed by an Executive Board of editors and managers led by the chief executive officer, the Editor-In-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief oversees the executive board positions, Managing Editor, Photo Manager, Treasurer, Video Manager, and Social Media Manager. Each position manages their own sector.
Managing Editor
The Managing Editor oversees the editors who each run their own "writing cells" composed of 5-6 staff writers. The writing cells each meet once a week. The Managing Editor meets with the editors once a week.
Photo Manager
The Photo Manager runs the photography cell which meets semi-weekly.
Video Manager
The Video Manager is the newest addition to the executive board and is responsible for development and upkeep of The Prodigy's YouTube channel. The Video Manager meets semi-weekly with videographers and script writers.
Social Media Manager
The Social Media Manager is responsible for The Prodigy's public relations and posts regularly on The Prodigy's Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
Financing
The Prodigy used to be financed by the ad clients who purchased ad space in each issue. In its early days, the Associated Students of UC Merced (ASUCM) subsidized or covered The Prodigy's printing cost. As of January 2011, all issues printed by The Prodigy were paid for by ad sales revenue. In 2015, with The Prodigy News' move to online advertisements no longer paid for the content in the news. To date, The Prodigy does not run advertisements online or otherwise.