This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Thank you for Paul Beebe's article "Winder-Deseret Connect mess casts shadow on citizen journalism model" (Tribune, Nov. 20). The problem at the Deseret News is that it does not really use many citizen "journalists"; it uses mommy-bloggers and aspiring writers willing to work for free to get their names in the paper.
Sadly, dozens of experienced, competent reporters lost their careers and livelihoods when the News' new management replaced them with ambitious amateur contributors. There are some excellent News contributors who are former staff members, but others just want the free publicity.
On its website, the staff directory is "currently unavailable," perhaps an attempt to hide how small the professional reporting staff is.
If The Tribune decides to use "citizen reporters," I hope it will avoid the train wreck at the News. A paper needs real reporters covering real beats.
A year ago, Salt Lake had two solid, respected daily papers; now, it's down to one. We don't want to lose The Trib, too.
Candace Robinson
Bountiful