2025-2026 year in review: Behind the scenes of The Daily Free Press and Back Bay Publishing Company, breaking news and breaking records

The 2025-2026 academic year represented a period of remarkable growth for The Daily Free Press: in article count, readership, online presence and impact.

The Daily Free Press at Boston University published approximately 1,200 articles, 37 photo galleries and 10 print issues over the past year. From September through April, the website received more than 2.15 million visits — more than double last year‘s 801,000 visits. 

The most read story of the year was a quick-turnaround news story about the president of BU College Republicans claiming he called ICE to arrest employees at Allston Car Wash. The story, by Sana Muneer, has received more than 60,000 clicks — five times more than last year’s top story. Its corresponding Instagram post became the FreeP’s most engaged-with post ever, with more than 4 million views, 26,000 likes and 22,000 shares. The account gained 1,058 followers from that post alone. 

The FreeP’s incredible journalism this past year was spearheaded by its stellar editors. 

The Fall 2025 Editorial Board, led by Editor-in-Chief Lauren Albano and Managing Co-Editors Samantha Genzer and Crystal Yormick, published a record-breaking number of stories in one semester: 654, beating Spring 2025’s record by 22. 

Included in the whopping number are a same-day breaking news article about a pro-Palestinian encampment at BU’s student union; an investigation into the University’s requests for faculty to remove pride flags; and an exclusive interview with activist Malala Yousafzai. The editors also oversaw the year’s top story about BUCR’s president calling ICE to Allston Car Wash, as well as multiple follow-up stories. 

The editors strengthened the FreeP’s multimedia presence with Instagram carousels for visually engaging stories, such as this one for a Boston Common “No Kings†protest. Under their leadership, the FreeP’s Instagram gained more than 3,000 followers. Read more about the fall semester in Albano’s letter from the editor. 

The Spring 2026 Editorial Board, led by Editor-in-Chief Truman Dickerson and Managing Co-Editors Liam Dunne and Anjola Odukoya, broke major stories directly impacting the BU community. 

Reporters and editors broke the news of the College of Communication dean’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein; the BU president’s false claim that she guest hosted a campus radio show; and a former film and television professor’s $1.6 million discrimination lawsuit against the University — to name a few. 

The story of BU’s flag policy from the fall resurfaced in March when BU took down pride flags during spring breakand the editors tackled it every step of the way with diligent follow-up coverage. The news went on to be picked up by GBH Newsthe Boston Globe and the New York Times. 

The editors also established a video section to expand the FreeP’s audiovisual storytelling capabilities, and the Freep’s Instagram hit a milestone of 10,000 followers. Read more about the spring semester in Dickerson’s letter from the editor. 

In March, members of the FreeP and its hockey publication, the Boston Hockey Blogearned five awards at the 2025 New England Better Newspaper Competition for coverage spanning August 2024 to July 2025:

The Daily Free Press is overseen by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Back Bay Publishing Company. BBPC consists of a Board of Directors including four dedicated FreeP alumni and five students, who meet monthly to discuss the paper’s long-term goals and major financial decisions. 

Also part of BBPC, the student-run Management Board handles the everyday operations of the paper and meets weekly to discuss everything from fundraisers to print-issue distribution to journalistic ethics. The students on Management Board, overseen by President Siena Griffin and Vice President Sana Muneer, achieved some major feats for the paper’s business end this academic year. 

The recruitment and training department welcomed and trained 220 new staff members. 

Analise Bruno, BBPC’s advertising chair for five semesters, raised $38,883 in ad revenue over the school year and preceding summer. She secured deals for the website, print issues and newsletters with major organizations including Google Gemini, Uber One and BU Metropolitan College. 

Led by fundraising chairs Alexis Safranko in the fall and Crystal Yormick in the spring, the FreeP raised $2,012 across fundraising initiatives, including two trivia nights, two Chipotle partnerships and the inaugural FreePsgiving, a Thanksgiving donation campaign. In addition, the FreeP earned $420 as one of 16 schools to participate this spring in College Media Madness, a three-week-long fundraising competition among collegiate newsrooms. 

All donations and fundraising proceeds go directly to the FreeP’s operational costs, such as printing, office supplies, transportation for staffers and more — in sum, it allows us to keep our independent student journalism, independent. 

In the fall, Audience and Engagement Chair Kayla Baltazar revamped our online merchandise shopwhich had been a ghost town for a couple of years.  A portion of each sale goes toward the FreeP, so the site helps fund our work — and ensures our staff and supporters can once again represent the FreeP in style. In addition to traditional FreeP logos, it now features designs by then-Graphics Editor Emma Clement, who will be editor-in-chief in the fall.

In February, the FreeP’s mini crossword puzzles found a new home with the launch of the Daily Free Press Games websitecomplete with a leaderboard feature for players with BU emails. The site comes from the hard work of a team led by Web Chair Brian Capozza, who first approached the editors with this idea last spring, and the puzzles of Master of Games Emma Jee. It represents a commitment to the FreeP’s growing games section, established in fall 2024. 

Throughout the year, the Management Board continued its efforts to expand the paper’s alumni database. Board members, led by Archival Chair Gabby Church, spent approximately 25 hours combing through 56 years of print archives and compiled the names and positions of more than 2,000 former FreePers. This project will enable us to stay in touch with our many alumni and connect students with career and mentorship opportunities.

Next year, Sana Muneer will take over as president of the Management Board and Lauren Albano as vice president. As always, The Daily Free Press will strive to produce accurate, engaging and meaningful stories in the interest of the Boston University community. 

The Board of Directors is extremely proud of the work of the dedicated writers, editors, photographers, podcasters and graphic designers at The Daily Free Press. If you have questions or comments, please contact to [email protected].