This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It is time to return the Tribune to local ownership.
The paper is going to die if it does not receive a financial transfusion. It needs a new and committed — and local — ownership. Also the Tribune must stop giving away its valuable content free online; there has to be a way to get people to pay for it. It is absurd that the print copy contains the line: "If you want to read more, go online." It should be the other way around; let them go and buy a copy.
I am sure that there are some rich local investors interested in preserving the Tribune as an independent news source. It could also be a nonprofit or cooperative and include the staff to participate as shareholders. I am not rich but I would like to participate and help to rescue the Tribune. My husband and I have a subscription.
Losing the Tribune would have a negative impact in the community because there is no other source of information that offers investigative reporting like the Trib does. We need to remember that newspapers are the watchdog of government, and people learn about their local community through its pages.
Teresa Sanchez Howes
Salt Lake City