Journalism in the United States is endangered.  Never mind what the First Amendment says about freedom of the press, journalists are under attack simply for what they report on their various “beats” assigned by the news organizations that employ them.  Sadly, as print newspapers fade, replaced by social media of both legitimate and dubious origins, the quest to find the truth is made even more difficult by the current president of the United States, whose favorite approach to any news item is to label it “fake news” unless it somehow glorifies him.  Even that doesn’t last long.  Case in point, his Fox News buddy Rupert Murdoch, now just another defendant in another Trump lawsuit.  

I grew up reading the newspaper every day.  The Eugene Register Guard was an independent family-owned paper; the Oregon Daily Emerald was the campus news organ, and the New York Times had a western edition, so I had access to global, national, local, and campus news nearly every day.  Today, the first thing I do every morning is collect the Washington Post from the driveway.  I am not enamored of the Post’s new section format, and its typos and errata are increasingly frustrating, but the writing and op-ed pieces continue to be first-rate, despite  several personnel changes currently underway.  Hopefully, the new columnists and reporters will carry on the Post’s stellar reputation.  National and global news items may be covered by multiple news organizations, but it’s the local news, politics, the neighborhood events, sports, obituaries, awards and sweet tidbits about the human condition that strengthen a community and foster our ties with each other.  The Falls Church News-Press maintains that connection locally, but many communities have lost their local paper and the bond that comes with good local reporters who take pride in independent, fact-based reporting.   

One of the papers of my youth, the Portland Oregonian, selected a new editor last month, a woman who, coincidentally, was on a family vacation visiting the National Archives and peering at the Declaration of Independence when she got the call.  In her first note to readers, Laura Gunderson noted that journalists “attend public meetings, fight for public records, and lead with dogged reporting that keeps powerful institutions and their leaders honest.”  She went on to observe that “reporters are real people reporting real news about the place they call home.” 

That last observation, about the place they call home, is important.  A reporter for a local news organization needs to know the community they report about, at least a little of the history, and seek to report facts, not something rumored or made up.  In our Metro region, it also helps to know the jurisdictional boundaries.  Years ago, the Little City was declared the “most wired city in America” or something like that, based on the number of Starbucks in Falls Church.  I think the report was ten in the city!  The reporter failed to question the number before putting it on the news, but my quick check revealed that only four of the ten were located within the city boundaries.  All had postal addresses of Falls Church, but the other six were in Mason, Providence, and Dranesville magisterial districts of Fairfax County.  A minor issue, perhaps, but accuracy counts, in darts, horseshoes, and news reporting.  

  It’s often overlooked that the Watergate scandal that culminated in Richard Nixon’s resignation was first reported by journalists assigned to the Metro desk of the Washington Post, not its national desk.  Former Virginia Delegate Bob Hull reminded me of that a few days ago.  Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein went on to international fame and fortune, but they were young and uncelebrated reporters toiling in what was a crime beat in 1972.  Likewise, Peter Baker, award-winning New York Times reporter and author, got his start at the Washington Times and the Washington Post, covering the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors as part of his “courthouse” beat. Following Watergate, journalism majors soared in colleges and universities; everyone wanted to find the next great scandal!  

There is a difference between reporting the factual news, as a journalist does, and opining about the news, as a columnist, including this one, might do.  The former is objective, the latter subjective, but the same rules should apply – honesty, accuracy, appropriate use of language, and respect for both the subject and the reader.  Whether we agree or disagree, our treasured First Amendment freedoms must be protected and honored, by presidents, reporters, columnists, and ordinary citizens alike.