Letter to the Editor of The Globe Newspaper

Dear Editor,

The Globe Newspaper is an incredible asset to the students, faculty, and community of Salt Lake Community College. It provides useful information and lends a critical eye on important issues to all of its readers.

I recently learned that The Globe’s budget was cut significantly, I worked for the newspaper for the better part of four years and we too had budgetary problems all along the way. On more than one occasion there was pressure to be folded into the Student Life and Leadership organization on campus. This presents the problem of conflict of interest, if The Globe is ran by the school it cannot report as an unbiased party. That is precisely the problem plaguing Brigham Young University’s “Daily Universe.”

It is no secret that the newspaper industry is in trouble and years ago The Globe began preparing for the trouble by joining forces with “The Chrony” from the University of Utah. In the first two years of the partnership our advertising revenue greatly increased, which lessened the need for financial support from the college.

As a former Editor of The Globe, I completely understand the budgetary issues associated with running one of Utah’s top college newspapers. With a limited budget it is extremely hard to attract qualified writers, or for that matter willing writers, to cover campus events. When I ran The Globe, and furthermore when my predecessors ran it, I pushed hard for my writers to cover as many campus issues as possible. Of course things fell through the cracks and things were not covered due to staffing limitations, but we did what we could with what he had.

I left the newspaper at the top of it’s game and I have heard rumblings that there have been major shakeups in the makeup of the Globe Student Media Council (GSMC), The Globe’s governing body. I feel that this is where the problem truly lies. During my tenure I had all of the support in the world from the GSMC, but I can see that without them the newspaper would not have been able to survive.

I for one completely support The Globe and it’s mission as SLCC’s Independent Voice. I know that I am not the only Globe alumnus that will show my support and in the following days more alumni will show theirs as well.

Jeren W. Canning
The Globe Newspaper Editor-in-Chief 2007-2008
Salt Lake Community College Alumnus