PUBLISHER’S COLUMN: You can handle the truth and you have a right to know

Have you paid attention to the war of words between President Trump and some national media outlets? It would all be entertaining if it weren’t a very serious matter.

From President Trump and his wild accusations that news reports he doesn’t agree with are fake, to the New York Times publisher and executive editor penning a letter to readers that was essentially a promise to cover the new administration with the same fairness as any others — seen by some as an apology to their readers for their election coverage — our country is facing a crisis of information.

Then there was the exchange between President Trump and CNN’s Jim Acosta when President Trump refused to take a question from the reporter and declared CNN to be ‘fake news.’

The road blocks between government and the national media are growing.

This has a trickle down effect to community newspapers and empowers local politicians to use “go around” methods such as Facebook to tell the story of government actions the way that they believe it should be told. Their theory is, ‘why go through the media when they will tell you directly in a weekly newsletter or live video on Facebook what they are up to?’

Unfiltered news directly to you, which sounds great and all, except for the fact that they are controlling the news from their perspective. I doubt any of them would go on Facebook live and say, “Hey my last bill I proposed has flaws,” or report any negative news for that matter concerning their office or party.

Remember last session in the Alaska State Legislature when Lora Reinbold of Eagle River was expelled from the House Republican Majority Caucus after voting against the state operation budget? She was pulled from several committee seats and lost staffers and support from her party. She was sanctioned for voting against her party line. Now imagine political parties controlling the news out of the Juneau or the borough or local city and community councils self-reporting to you.

Talk about filtered, such a scenario is but a stone’s throw from state-run propaganda.

Fighting this threat is the role of your newspaper, and that’s true whether you live in an urban or rural area — to report to you the truth because it is your right to know. As publisher of the Frontiersman I am proud of our coverage of the Mat-Su Valley and telling its story.

In our conference room, in bound books, are virtually every Frontiersman published since its founding 70 years ago. It’s a living history in print.

We’ve told the story and will continue to for a long time. Our coverage is neither fake nor biased. We present the facts to you and you can derive your own opinion or emotion from each story. Our opinion page is open to you to contribute to at any time you choose. Our Spectrum columns allows a venue for political and community leaders, non-profit organizations, and average citizens who have an opinion to contribute. Of course, our staff will present their opinions on our opinion page at times as well. If you don’t like an opinion, then send us a letter or email with your rebuttal and we’ll print it in our letters to the editor.

I was attending the Palmer Chamber of Commerce lunch the week after the primary elections, and at my table was a person who just lost the primary for a house seat. Understandably, he was disappointed with the result, but he showed much class and dignity in defeat. He told me that he was impressed with the election coverage from the Frontiersman. “I read everything you published. It was as unbiased a coverage as I’ve seen,” he said. “I could not tell if you favored any one running in the elections.”

I appreciated him saying that. We don’t endorse candidates. We present them to you, cover the debates and let you decide. Now, if they are misrepresenting themselves we will report that as well. We take this very seriously. We don’t only have this news attitude when it comes to political coverage but in every story.

When I first was named publisher here and moved to the Valley, I met a local public official for lunch. He asked me my vision of what the Frontiersman should be. I told him that a community newspaper should tell the story of the community in the most open and fair way possible. I believe we should promote the community for the good things it does from municipalities, non-profits, businesses and individuals. But we are no one’s public relations firm. If someone missteps we will report it. At the same time, we are not into “gotcha” journalism. We are not looking to bring anyone down, but if there is corruption or poor judgement in decision making we will report it to the community. This, after all, is why we are here.

One can chose to get their news from unverified reports on social media pages, or get their news from us, a source which verifies before it reports. We will make our fair share of mistakes but we will admit to them and do our best to set the record straight. There is no room for big ego in community journalism. We appreciate our role in making the Mat-Su Valley a great place to live, but most of all we appreciate you, the reader, and we thank you for reading the Frontiersman.

This column has been written in honor of Sunshine Week, March 12th-18th 2017, a celebration of “It’s your right to know” presented by the American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.