Students are promoting a conservative political voice on campus with the new monthly newspaper, The Truth.
The creators, two former opinion writers for The Daily Utah Chronicle, decided to publish the newsletter to give more voice to conservative opinion and news at the U.
“If you look at any newspaper or media, you see a strong liberal bias,” said Gina Nickl, a U alumna who is taking extra classes this semester.
Nickl believes that TV channels, such as CNN, and their Web sites are strongly biased, specifically regarding the amount of coverage they provide for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. versus that for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Nickl and Andrew Cengiz, a senior film major, were both opinion writers for The Chronicle, but said they wanted to write about meaningful conservative news.
“We want The Truth to be another side (of political events) and a paper we want to read,” Cengiz said.
Cengiz and Nickl said they want their newspaper to have writing that is conversational, with conservative leanings.
Nickl said she quit The Chronicle because she felt she wasn’t allowed to write about “bigger” issues.
“I don’t care about the new parking lot,” she said about a story wrote. “I don’t want to write about the new parking lot. I felt I was writing my opinion on less meaningful stuff.”
Cengiz quit The Chronicle when he disagreed with how an article he wrote was edited.
“There are no hard feelings towards (The Chronicle), and I know (The Chronicle) didn’t change it to change my opinion, but I felt it changed it (and) contradicted my personal beliefs,” Cengiz said.
Chronicle Editor in Chief Dustin Gardiner said the change was a matter of word flow.
“The change in the article was really minor,” Gardiner said. “I don’t think it changed the tone of the article.”
Gardiner said he welcomes The Truth to campus but questioned its allegations of bias.
“It’s interesting that they say their conservative viewpoints aren’t being reflected in The Chronicle,” Gardiner said. “We have regular guest columns from the chairwoman of the campus Republicans. We also have several conservative columnists, but if (Cengiz and Nickl) feel they are being underrepresented, they should certainly go and find somewhere to put out that voice.”
Jim Fisher, a communication professor and adviser to The Chronicle, said he welcomes The Truth and any other new publication.
“As a former publisher and creator of publications, I wish them the very best, but I don’t think they are going to make it and that’s a shame,” Fisher said. “(The Truth staff) are being underserved by publications, and if it’s worth their financial and emotional risk, more power to them.”
Fisher said he believes the newspaper faces obstacles with effectively selling ads or finding private donations, finding staff writers and establishing credibility.
Nickl said The Truth will be funded by the conservative nonprofit organization the Leadership Institute. They were given $750 for the first two issues but are currently looking for donors and more staff writers.
“We’ve received positive input and have around 50 people interested in working for The Truth,” Nickl said.
Fisher said The Chronicle has recently had other competition, including U Scribe, a newsletter funded and written by members of the Union Programming Council.
Fisher said it is the UPC’s right to start a publication, but they could also buy space from The Chronicle.
The founders of The Truth said they do not have experience producing a newspaper but believe their paper will succeed nonetheless.
“We’re film majors, not exactly journalists, so I feel like we have a little more freedom to experiment,” Nickl said.
The conservative newspaper has already published its first newsletter and will publish the first official paper Nov. 17.