For over 50 years, PantherNOW has serviced the FIU community with consistent
coverage of the university’s most pressing news. From day-to-day event coverage to scandals including firings, PantherNOW sheds light on issues important to a community of over 50,000 students, teachers and faculty.
Editor-in-chief Elise Gregg, who started out as a staff writer during the pandemic, feels that the work she and her staff have accomplished in the last few years highlights why student journalism is a pressing need for the greater community.
“There’s just so much going on in universities that maybe students don’t have control over, per se, but that really impacts what it means to be a student and what it means to be a part of higher education today,” said Gregg.
Gregg also recounted incidents where administration and student government have come for PantherNOW, such as the Rosenberg resignation coverage that happened during her time as a staff writer.
“Our opinion writer basically thought it was inappropriate that there was this abuse of power on the president’s part, and that our student leaders were not saying anything,” said Gregg. “So she wrote that, and SGA leaders at the time did not understand the difference between a news piece and an opinion piece. I had to explain to the Senate president at the time that there is such a thing as an opinion page.”
Gregg and the staff at PantherNOW find the experience rewarding for both the staff and the greater community involved.
“Student media is really where you’re gonna see what it means to be in a newsroom if you’re a student journalist,” she said. “And if you’re a reader, this is where you’re going to get the most accurate, the most comprehensive and the most passionate reporting about your community, which is your university.”
