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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5 IEWPOINTS IN OUR OPINION USC inn would be a mistake ' USC President Andrew Sorensen’s plan for a university-owned hotel is a bad idea for USC and the local economy. A state-supported university should benefit the private economy, but USC’s inn will siphon revenues from private-sector hotels when university visitors inevitably choose a USC-sanctioned hotel instead of The advantages to the hotel are either false ones or easily achievable elsewhere. Sleeping on campus. The hotel site will also eliminate more student parking. That makes Davis Field, Preston Green and possibly tne notel site as tne lastest parKing areas to fall victim to university construction plans. Not only this, but the advantages to the hotel are either false ones or easily achievable elsewhere. The hospitality school has been interested in working internships in the hotel, but it could form a partnership with Columbia-area hotels to provide internship opportunites for hospitality majors. Sorensen has said that the hotel will attract high profile faculty, but it’s unlikely that its room service will keep them in town once they have a home of their own. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK STAFF Editor in Chief Corey Garriott Managing Editoi Julia Knetzer News Editor Gabrielle Sinclai Viewpoints Editi Wes Wolfe The Mix Editor Brian Ray Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Photo Editor Patricia Shadwe Page Designers Rachel Edwards Patricia Shadwe Copy Editors Amy Genoble, Parul Joshi STUDENT MEDIA Faculty Advisor Erik Collins Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Creative Director r Susan King >r Production Manager Patrick Bergen Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Advertising Staff II John Blackshire TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock II 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3886 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Monday. Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. ^Rfisnspsn CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Media has conservative bias LISA C. FLICK GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Contrary to popular opinion, liberals do not rule the airwaves. For those who know me, I am big into politics. I like to engage myself by watching some of the all-day news sources. But lately, they’re all the same. They all sound a little too much like Fox News Channel. Scary. Fox News is home to many conservatives. However, the “unfair and imbalanced” station, the “we distort, you decide” channel is suspect to liberals. But turning to CNN and MSNBC is no comfort. What happened to this so-called “liberal media”? I always hear conservatives crying about the "liberal" media. Where? Not only is television a major conservative outlet, but my eardrums are pounded when ever I turn on the radio and hear the sweet sounds of Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy. Also, there is no significant left wing opposition to these two jok ers. Not only is there a failure to represent the liberals in the me dia, but the conservatives will go down fighting claiming that left wingers control it all. Consider the media ownership. As of this column, most media outlets are owned by less than a handful of conservative corporations who tend to give nearly 80 percent of all campaign contributions to Republicans. Since the owners of media outlets tend to be conser vatively biased, can we really be lieve that there is any pervasive liberal voice tainting the American media? Journalists tend to be left-leaning but their red-pen carrying counterparts, the editors, tend to be right-wing. Who do you really think is win ning out there? The bottom line is that I don't dislike the fact that tlie media is conservatively biased. I dislike that there isn't any balance. As much as I hear the mouths of the _ leading conservatives pundits, I would really like fo hear the sound of some lefties. If we can balance the far right-wingers with some left-wingers and give them the same amount of air time, that would be ideal. After all, America is just getting one perspective and the idea of free speech is dwindling. Each time conservatives yell or interrupt a political counterpart on one of their shows, the term "free me dia" slowly begins to leak from my vocabulary. Lisa C. Flick is a fourth-year psychology student.