PITTSBURGH STANDARD
Express Your Letter to the Editor

INTRODUCTION
     Hello, my name is Ramesh C. Reddy. I am a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Panthers.
     As the publisher and student Editor in Chief of the online edition of the Pittsburgh Standard, I would like to welcome you to the paper. The paper originally started out as a monthly paper edition serving predominantly the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh community. It was funded by the Center for Life and Family to give students an alternative paper.
          It was a pilot program for an entire school year from September 2001- April 2005. We ran the paper without paid advertisements. As of April, the print edition has stopped but I am so grateful for all the staff that made the paper possible from the publisher to each writer.
          When the paper was not going to be coming anymore, I was a bit disappointed because I heard wonderful stories of the impact the paper made in many student’s lives. I did not want that impact to be stifled just because there was not going to be a print edition.
          As the then managing editor of the paper, I took it upon myself to do what I could so that the paper would continue if not as a paper edition. With this in mind, I contacted the publisher to see if I could use the Pittsburgh Standard’s name to run the paper online. Permission rights were given to me to have the Pittsburgh Standard’s name to run an online edition as long as the Center for Life and Family would be absolved of having anything to do with the online edition starting in May 2002 until a future paper edition could return.
          An agreement was reached and the Pittsburgh Standard was born on a commercial site http://www.pittsburghstandard.com. Just because I decided to start an online edition of the paper, I did not want people to forget what made this opportunity possible.
          With this in mind, I have archived all of the paper edition issues from Sept 2001-April 2002 and included them on the site.
          As managing editor of the paper edition, I followed the mission of the paper set by the staff before I joined. Now as the paper runs as a commercial site and I was given rights to use the name, I don’t intend to forget what made the paper successful. If anything, I hope to see the online edition improve over the paper edition.
          I chose to continue with that name because the mission of the online edition of the paper is to “Write with faith, hope, and love raising the standard for news and views”
          I encourage you all to look through the archives to see the kind of articles that were covered in the paper so you can know what the editors and writers made possible. All of them will be moving on but the Standard will remain. It will remain to reach out to readers in different ways through the different sections of the paper.
          If you have always wanted to write and could never find the opportunity to write, I invite you to come aboard the PS. The online paper can only become better with dedicated editors and writers who have a passion to use the paper as a means of public service whether that service includes covering breaking news, writing impressions and expressions to influence and challenge the public. The paper does not end with those sections alone for there is more to the paper to reach the public masses. You can reach me with any questions or comments at  pghstndrd@pittsburghstandard.com or rcrst6@pitt.edu

I would now like to leave you now with the words of the former Editor-in-Chief, Jeremy Day.  He is the who took upon himself with other members of Chi Alpha Ministries the responsibility of making the print-edition of the paper a reality and influenced lots of students with the limited staff team he was able to have.

      “As part of our effort to respect and acknowledge all viewpoints, we welcome comments and submissions. We do this to continually provide a high level of service and integrity to our readership. We want to give you all the information you need and want, when you want it. So enjoy yourself as you are looking through the Pittsburgh Standard and thanks for reading! The mission of our paper is “To get the truth behind various news stories out into the public’s eye and educate them in various ways. We will not be biased one way or the other, but we will always carry the light of truth that comes from Christ. Our hope is to slowly pull our generation from the quagmire that Hollywood and the media has seemed to have led us into.”