An Open Letter to the Ottawa Citizen

Dear Scott Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Ottawa Citizen.

As you no doubt know, Carleton's president circulated an email encouraging students to respond to your paper's label of Carleton as "Last Chance U." As a senior student in the journalism program there, I have several problems with both him and your paper's coverage.

First, papers are free to print what they like; they should not be publicly backhanded by someone like Atkinson, who has reacted by treating his student body like an army of letter writing gremlins.

Second, your reporter should know that Last Chance U can be applied to almost any school, and is regularly; Carleton is not its sole bearer. To assume it is suggests an agenda on the Citizen's part.

Third, your paper did not declare its conflict of interest. You have a direct connection to the school through an apprenticeship program. I can see why you would not want to point this out in an article bashing the school -- having its grads and students among your staff -- but your readers might be interested.

Fourth, the Maclean's rankings are not God-like. The "comprehensive" ranking is just that, and is the opposite of discriminating.

Is Guelph better than U of T? No. Is Carleton's journalism program more prestigious than, say, Waterloo's English program? Yes. Does your article have nuance or balance? No.
--
Iain Marlow
Fourth-year, Journalism and Human Rights,
Carleton University