Last edition, the Sun Day published the column “Tracing the Enemy of the People to It’s True Source” by TR Kerth, and it raised some eyebrows, so I decided to address the column and some of the letters we received. The letters we were given approval to publish are featured in this edition, so you may want to read them for reference before reading this column.
Before I get to TR’s column, I’d like to comment on the Sun Day’s role in its publication. More than one reader expressed his/her disappointment that we published a political opinion or just plain political piece in a “community” newspaper with the implication that the Sun Day is no place for politics (and opinions of same) or that politics appearing in the Sun Day is unprecedented. One assumption is opinion, the other is being addressed as fact. Will start with the facts. The Sun Day has always been light on politics, but in its nine years, we have run approximately 130 political and/or political-opinion pieces, most all of them submitted by readers, covering “both sides of the aisle.” I think some readers think the Sun Day doesn’t run political pieces (opinion or otherwise) because of those 130 the bulk ran during the two presidential elections that have occurred in the Sun Day’s history, leaving the other years mostly void of politics. In short, TR’s column is NOT the first time we’ve published something on politics.
And it won’t be the last, which leads me to the second point: Opinion.
Over the years, the Sun Day, like all newspapers, has been criticized for publishing every kind of news-related material. Everything from sports to politics to special-interest pieces to features to hard news has provoked people to write and say, “Hey, the Sun Day is no place for…X.” Admittedly, I’ve always taken this as a form of flattery because you readers care so much about the paper that you care about what it publishes and have strong opinions on its content. I respect that…greatly. But what it boils down to is that old adage, “You can’t please everyone all the time.”
The Sun City community—like the Huntley community, like the county, like the state, like the country, like the world—is an eclectic mix of interests, and the Sun Day tries very hard to include content that appeals to each of those interests. Politics is one of them. Of course, politics is a known hot-button (expressed hilariously and expertly in Sun Day Web Manager Billy O’Keefe’s illustrated book These are my Friends on Politics: A Children’s Book For Adults Who Occasionally Behave Like Kids) but as we’ve experienced so is a story on lanyard making. Seriously, if I submitted to everyone’s request for what we shouldn’t publish, there’d be no Sun Day.
But what I’ve garnered from the recent criticisms over TR’s column, it isn’t so much that he wrote about politics in general that has upset some individuals but it’s what he said that has caused a stir, which leads me to my final point: Freedom of Speech.
I’m going to make a statement. In the weeks that I’ve been rehearsing this column in my head, I planned on this statement being the crescendo of this column, but I’m going to go against my own thought grain and, in typical journalism fashion, turn the pyramid upside down and start with the primary point: The amendment that allows TR to express his opinions on Trump is the very same amendment that allows Trump to call the press “The Enemy of the People.”
TR’s comments have upset certain individuals, but for individuals like TR, Trump’s comments are equally upsetting. Why? Because allowing someone to speak his or her mind can be upsetting. Families are expert at this. We all understand this. But while Freedom of Speech can be upsetting, there’s a reason it’s the first amendment. Freedom of Speech is the amendment on which our entire country stands. You could literally wipe all other amendments off the board, and so long as you leave Freedom of Speech, our country, our freedom, still stands. Take it away, and it’s like yanking the rug right out from under someone’s feet. We’d fall.
Yes, just like carrying a bump-stock automatic rifle into a high school is an abuse of the Second Amendment, the First Amendment can be abused, too. Trump supporters will say this is exactly what TR did in his column, abused the First Amendment. Those who oppose Trump will offer praise, which the Sun Day received about TR’s column, too. In this case, it’s simply a matter of conjecture, seeing there are facts that support both arguments.
Personally, I don’t care that Trump calls the press the enemy of the people because, honestly, it’s pretty cliché. Trump is not the first person, and he won’t be the last, to boo the press. I’m used to it. It’s common for the press to come under fire from someone of note just like it’s common for someone of note to come under fire from the press. This volley will continue for time immortal.
What I do care about are the opinions of the Sun Day. One submitter, who did not give us permission to publish his/her letter, accused the Sun Day of being biased and asked if we had someone lined up to show support for Trump to offer a balanced perspective. I’m going to address the latter first.
Simple answer is No, we do not have someone lined up to write their support for Trump, just like we did not have TR cued up to write his opposition. The Sun Day allows its columnists their autonomy, or dare I say, their freedom of speech. TR was not asked to write his opinion nor did I ask another columnist to write theirs in favor of Trump…nor will I do so. However, anyone who wants to write in to show his/her support for Trump may do so and we will gladly publish it, which leads me to the first accusation. Is the Sun Day biased. First, my comment directly above should answer that question, but I’ll say it very clearly: No, the Sun Day is not biased.
I have a very, I guess you could call it, idealistic view of what a newspaper should be and that is a newspaper must stand right in the middle and not offer its opinion but instead be a conduit to allow others to have a voice through its pages, to give people ground to stand on, both sides of any topic. When a newspaper is biased, it’s doing the very thing it fights in opposition of, silencing people, specifically those who oppose their perspective, which is not only oppressive but very dangerous (a great example of this in fiction is The Handmaid’s Tale).
This core belief was instilled in me years ago, when a journalism teacher I once had brought in a copy of the Tribune and the Sun-Times to class one morning. Both covers featured the same topic except one presented the story from a democratic perspective while the other republican. The comparison was glaring and very clear and shocking. Until that moment I thought that newspapers were unbiased (I was seventeen), and I immediately recognized this stilted reporting as wrong. Now this was reporting, not editorializing where you can express opinions. It’s what they’re for. But these were the cover stories, written by news reporters, yet their opinions were as pronounced as the black ink.
The teacher then urged his students to not fall culprit to this type of journalism, to give everyone a fair chance and offer multiple perspectives and remain objective, otherwise you’re not painting a clear or equal picture. And that’s what I swore to do with the Sun Day, offer factual-based reporting while allowing others, reader-submitters and columnists alike, to voice their concerns, otherwise I’d be doing what’s called “managing the press, something that, when done by a political or municipal official, is illegal in this country because it opposes the First Amendment.
It’s why I “allowed” TR’s column to publish. It’s why I am “allowing” the letters that show their opposition to TR’s column or the Sun Day to publish. It’s why I will “allow” additional opinions on the matter (or praise for Donald Trump) to publish. Everyone deserves a voice. It’s what that teacher from years ago was getting at. Thank you TR for teaching me that.
