TIPPING OUR HAT TO THE LOCAL PAPER

There is no doubt one of the most popular public responses to news stories is to blame the media. We have done it ourselves and done it with no regrets. The media, television, newspapers, and radio stations are guilty of having a point of view and allowing it to color its “news”. We prefer and are unusual in the fact that we are very open in where our ideology and our preference lies – the conservative wing of the Republican party. But most media make the unbelievable claim that they merely “report the news” and their own bias is not reflected in their reporting. Hogwash!

With that said and with nothing but kudos intended, locally we want to recognize the closest local media to fulfilling the goal of news with no spin is definitely The Dayton News and The Cleveland Advocate. Both local papers are run by Editor-n-Chief Vanessa Brashier. Vanessa does a great job putting together a newspaper that covers most of the community interests and all the other things a reader hopes to find in a good newspaper. It is a massive, never ending undertaking with publishing deadlines and story after story to cover. She is aided currently by another excellent writer, Casey Stinnett and a small staff. Both the newspapers are a credit to the community as they help us feel closer to each other and more aware of our surroundings and specifics about our neighbors lives.

So what is the catch? Why compliment local media? At times we have been no holes barred negative about media. The answer is simple. At times we have wanted the media to report things they should know about and readers would want to know. And at times, we have viewed events differently.

But we are freely giving compliments to Ms. Brashier and her papers because she puts out a really good local paper week after week. We have learned that all though we all have bias, these papers are making every attempt to serve the public and not their self interest. Unlike competitors, Ms. Brashier’s advertisers can know when they spend their hard earned money and place an ad in one of her papers, no one should feel the paper is so uneven and out of balance politically that they have to hold their nose to fork the dough over.

So here is to you Vanessa. Casey. And staff. Keep up the good work. We will surely criticize you again, but you have earned our respect and we want everyone to know it.