Nine UC student interns had their last weekly meeting this quarter with Queen City Forum, a Web-based group dedicated to addressing local political issues, Tuesday evening.
The group's Web site is www.queencityforum.com
Christy Ertel, a UC intern with Queen City Forum and fourth-year marketing student, said interns were thanked at the meeting.
Queen City Forum's upcoming one-year anniversary this March was also discussed.
Michael Altman, a former UC political science student who said he plans to resume classes in spring, and Steve Fritsch, a third-year journalism student at Northern Kentucky University, founded Queen City Forum last spring.
Altman, a self-proclaimed liberal, said the site evolved when he and Fritsch, a self-proclaimed conservative, decided to start a written face-off of ideas and beliefs.
By placing their articles on a Web site, Altman and Fritsch hoped to spur thought in others.
"The idea of the site is to have every viewpoint heard so people can communicate better," Fritsch said.
According to Ertel, the Web site's mission is "to inform, involve and innovate via editorial content, direct email links to local political leaders, and open public debate.'"
Queen City Forum is "based on an ongoing debate between two people, myself and Steve Fritsch, with political positions on opposite ends of the spectrum," Altman said.
But since starting up, the two have grown into a staff of 25 with a fluctuating base of volunteers and interns who contribute to the spectrum of opinions.
Altman said it is difficult to work with people who have such strong and opposing political beliefs, but Queen City Forum works hard to represent a variety of agendas on the Web site.
"[The site] is so balanced between the far right and the far left opinions, and that's something you don't see in news media today," Ertel said. "That is definitely the key strength."
"Journalism is very clearly one way or the other these days, so we're trying to rewrite the books," Altman said. "There's something missing. We have a generation of politically disaffected people."
Altman said the site breaks political issues down to what he calls "small steps guided toward a political awareness," and he hopes this will re-engage more college-aged people in political issues.
Fritsch said the main purpose of the site is to get more young people involved in politics.
"We need to stop this vicious cycle of stupidity," he said.
Ertel said Queen City Forum roughly offers a two-week rotation of articles written by both liberals and conservatives, covering as many local issues as possible. Altman said that two people with opposing political views typically cover a single topic.
"Definitely a nice perspective," Ertel said. "Especially for students trying to figure out where their views are. It's unreal, the vast database; it's a really nice research tool."
In addition to articles, the site offers cartoons and national and international links to other various news sources.
The site will also have links to local political leaders, interviews with local figures including the Rev. Damon Lynch III and Jerry Springer, and contact information for people interested in contributing.
Ertel said the UC students that interned with Queen City Forum this quarter became involved through DAAP professor Terry Grundy's urban lobbying class.
She said that after Altman and Fritsch spoke to the class about politics and the media, students were offered participation points for fulfilling Queen City Forum intern roles for the rest of the quarter.
Altman, Fritsch and Ertel all said this quarter's internships went well and were beneficial to both the site and students.
Ertel said Queen City Forum offers a wide range of internship opportunities for a wide range of majors.
She said she implemented her own knowledge of marketing to organize a Queen City Forum marketing strategy for promoting the site to visitors and contributors.
Ertel said the site could also be a good place for political science, journalism, business, design, media and other majors to intern.
For more information about Queen City Forum, visit www.queencityforum.com.
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