Letter from the editor: It’s time for student news to step up
October 28, 2020
Edited 3:09 p.m. Oct. 28
Local news is dying and is instead being replaced by enterprise giants such as Tribune, Gannett and Lee Enterprises.
Small town newsrooms are being overworked, underpaid, and as a result, rural communities are being underrepresented in the media and important stories aren’t being told. To prevent news deserts and to tell these stories, it is time for student newspapers to step-up and fill gaps in coverage.
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The Daily Egyptian has been serving the Southern Illinois community since 1916 and now we are rebranding/redesigning our print and online editions so that we can better serve our community and tell its stories.
We are expanding our circulation to Springfield and the School of Medicine so that the rest of the state and our representatives can be aware of what is happening in our region.
We are also excited to announce that we will be partnering with local high schools to help inspire the next generation of student journalists and to give them a platform to tell the stories of their communities (See pg.7 for a piece by a Belleville West student).
In addition to expanding our distribution, we are increasing our online presence by producing a new podcast “InsiDE” in conjunction with the Saluki Ad Lab, launching a Daily Egyptian app (coming soon to android) and working to improve our social media presence so that our coverage is easily accessible.
Our goal is to enlighten our community, hold those in power accountable and to inform the rest of the state of what occurs in the southern Illinois region.
The Daily Egyptian will continue to cover the election, national unrest, COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and any other stories that arise. We will do so ethically, responsibly and as diligently as we can.
We hope other student newspapers in the state will join us in taking these steps, and attempting to fill in the gaps where local papers have vanished.
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Editor-in-Chief Kallie Cox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @KallieECox.
To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
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Mark Hertzberg • Oct 29, 2020 at 7:32 am
Good for you! I am a photojournalist with 33 years at one of the “giants,” as you describe them. I am dismayed by the news deserts proliferating since I left the paper in 2012.
Matt Parsons • Oct 28, 2020 at 6:26 pm
Hello DE,
I have recently reached out to Kallie as well as the President of the USG and I have received no response whatsoever. Twenty five years ago I was part of a group of students here that fought hard for a seat at the table for students and the DE was in that fight. Once student leadership fails to take the time to respond to their constituents, and the DE is making statements about “stepping up”, they both need to look inward. There is no student voice left, and their is not really a USG left, and the DE is perhaps the last hope. All that being said, I have ended up back in Carbondale under the challenges of Covid and unexpectedly, but I am happy to assist, listen and discuss ideas around moving SIUC forward again. I truly hope that there is someone listening because the rays of hope seem to be fading fast here on campus. Thanks for your time.
Matt