Page 9 March 16, 2009

OPINION

PANTHER POST

Panther Post

550 University Ave. Room 218 Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3 Tel: 566-0629 Fax: 566-0979 pantherpost@ gmail.com

Editor-in-chief Lucas McInnis Production editor Sebastian Baglole Business manager Martha MacIntyre — Sports editor Kate VanGerven

Reporters Andie Bulman Whitney Bysterveldt Jarrod Yeo

Contributors Cassandra Bernard Ryan Conway Jaclyn Crawford Bryce Elsley Suna Houghton Leslie Keeping

The Panther Post is an editorially autonomous publication of the University of Prince Edward Island Student Union Inc: and the official newspa- per of the University of Prince Edward Island. The Panther Post reserves the right not to publish any submission which may represent a conflict of interest for the author. This includes any subject matter for any individual group, team or depart- ment pertaining to any self-promotional activity, academic endeavour or sporting event, but not limited to these topics.

The opinions expressed in columns or letters are those of the authors and not necessarily that of The Panther Post, its staff, or the UPEI Student Union Inc.

The Panther Post reserves the right to edit submis- sions for consent and/or clarity. All materials contained herein, except advertising or where indicated otherwise, are copyright 2008 by The Panther Post and protected under Canadian copy- right laws.

Material submitted and print herein become the property of The Panther Post, and may be re- printed without permission. Reprint requests may _ be directed to the Editor-in-chief.

The Panther Post is published monthly from September to April.

The Panther Post is a full member of the Cana- dian University Press (CUP). The Panther Post

is represented by Campus Plus for multi-market advertising. Campus Plus can be reached at 1-800-265-5372.

Letters to the editor and submissions from con- tributors should be sent to © pantherpost@ gmail.com. All articles must include name and contact information.

Advertisement inquiries should be directed to

the business manager, who can be reached at the above information.

ow, many of you may

have all ready seen the

most recent Semantic, in which a Mr. Ryan Gallant declares said paper should become UPEI’s official newspaper.

What an interesting and unfound- ed declaration. Mr Gallant obvi- ously has a lot of time on his hands -- aside from losing prime ministe- rial protege competitions -- to write letters to the editor.

Essentially, Mr. Gallant shanties that since the Semantic is all ready independent it would be a prime candidate for school newspaper. It, after all, does not take hard earned dollars from the students to put out its material.

It makes sense, but it is fundamen- tally flawed:

In his tenure here as both Student ~

Union president and editor-in- chief he essentially just caused shit as president and put out about as much readable content as edi- tor as my 2007-2008 predecessor. It’s mighty difficult to take such a lacklustre editor and president seri-

The Other Side

of the Story

by

Lucas McInnis

ously.

And yet he declares (no doubt simply to stroke his own ego) that since his leaving office the news- paper has put out only about 10 issues.

Well, this year we have not missed deadline and beyond that have done a quite sufficient job of informing the student body exactly what is happening on campus.

Mr. Gallant knows much more about being a half-assed politician than he does about the world of student journalism, as evident in his rant.

At other schools there is a news- paper fee. Yes, students do pay into the newspaper despite it being an

_ independent source. It’s the same

here, the only difference is we’re

still a part of the Student Union.

Just about everyone who works for the Student Union is aware of my fondness of the idea of an inde- pendent paper, but I’m also smart enough to know it can’t happen at the drop of a hat.

While the Semantic is a fun read they admittedly lack much actual journalism. Very few news stories actually go into the paper and while this is by no means a shot at them, the Semantic is more something you read for a laugh, not the paper you pick up to find out what is hap- pening on campus.

So, Mr. Gallant, I suggest you quit writing letters to exacerbate your social lack-of-worth and actually try to do something with your life. Besides doing a piss-poor job of moving into the political scene.

Lucas Mclnnis is the editor-in-chief of the Panther Post

Letters to the editor and guest opinions must bear the signature and

Meetings are h

are open to anyone who is

class of the author. The author’s name will be published. Letters must be 350 words or less. The editor will edit for length and reserves the right of editoral discretion in the publication of the letters. Letters should be sent to: pantherpost@gmail. com.

Copyright in letters and other materials submitted to The Panther Post and accepted for publication remains with the author, but The Panther Post and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other forms.