Defending Oneself

Earlier this week, on Aug. 10, the Boston Globe, an award-winning paper established in 1872, sent out a “call to action” to other newspapers to rally against attacks at media from the current Presidential Administration. Among the reasons for the rally is to fight against the accusation of being “an enemy of the people,” a term reportedly first used by President Trump in February 2017.

To be honest, there have been few instances that CV Weekly has been accused of being a purveyor of “fake news,” another phrase directed at media by the President; however, the term has been directed at this newspaper, parroted by the ill-informed. I consider the source and typically end up taking the accusation with a grain of salt. Because CV Weekly is a non-partisan paper, that is we generally don’t promote or denigrate any political party or position, being accused of writing “fake, fake disgusting news” (another term directed at media on Aug. 2) really hasn’t filtered down to us here in the Crescenta Valley.

Or has it?

My main job is to sit behind my desk, editing stories as they come in, planning out the paper, doing the business of running a business. My reporters, however, are on the street where they have seen changes in the demeanor of some of the people they interview. There have also been throw away comments by some people when asked questions by our reporters.

“I’m not going to answer you; you won’t print what I say anyway,” was one remark that I heard about.

Are these changes in attitude a result of comments made against the media at the Presidential level? Who’s to say? But I will say that CV Weekly has always strived to present balanced factual information. My job is to present information so our readers can arrive at their own conclusions. I believe our readers are pretty smart and can make up their own minds; they don’t need to know the opinion of reporters when reading an article.

Do we sometimes get things wrong? It pains me to answer “yes.” But that is usually an oversight, not something done because we are trying to harm someone. And I think I am quick to own our errors and to publicly acknowledge them. That, to me, is the responsible thing to do.

While I won’t necessarily do what the Globe wants, that is to publish an editorial denouncing what it calls a “dirty war against the free press,” I will promise to continue doing what we do, what we’ve always done: produce a dependable source of local information that our readers have come to rely upon.

  robin goldsworthy