“President unleashes litany of falsehoods about the election”. This was the sub-headline of the headline on the front page of the Peninsula Clarion on November 6 & 7,2020. The headline itself was somewhat responsible, pointing out that Biden had a path to victory and Trump attacked the integrity of the process. The headline contained facts. The sub-headline is an editorial. There is a page for editorials. That’s where you are reading this, if the Clarion chooses to print it.
Those of you that hate Trump or can’t stand Republicans or simply want to control the narrative to, and the thoughts of, the readers, this sub-headline is perfectly acceptable. For those of us that want to get the news, this sub-headline is an attack on our intelligence. As an honest news media you had to have noticed that this Presidential election had plenty of irregularities no matter how much you hate Trump or Republicans. We can only imagine your “Trump Cheated” headline if Joe Biden was winning handily on election night and ended up losing his lead in each and every one of the five “swing” states still plausibly in doubt. You, as an unbiased source of news should give us the facts. Maybe you get your news from a biased source like the AP. Dig a little deeper. Show some journalistic pride and find some diversity (a word you claim to understand) in your sources. We form our own opinions. You don’t educate us, you don’t enlighten us, you don’t attempt to control the availability of our information. You report to us.
For four years the bias of the media has been alarming. The lies and omissions were relentless. Russian collusion was a fact. The Covington Catholic kids were racist brats. Jussie Smollet was the victim of a hate crime by MAGA hat wearing thugs. Trump was the one that first put children into “cages” at the border. Brett Kavanaugh is a gang rapist. All the while, every story that made a Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi, or Hillary Clinton look bad was immediately “debunked” simply by asking the accused whether or not they were guilty. We have seen the media fawn over some of this countries least virtuous personalities in interview after interview. We have watched as “science” that reinforces the liberal arguments is celebrated while anyone that disagrees with that “science” is a kook no matter how impressive their credentials. We saw the press ignore facts, justify misdeeds and contextualize lies throughout this President’s term, from the dossier through impeachment to the Chinese virus. The list of reasons not to believe the press is never ending. Many of us, for very good reasons have completely lost all faith in the mainstream media. They lie, they ignore facts that are contrary to their agenda, and when they are caught in the act they deflect and bury all opposition with baseless babble until the story fades into the past. Harm, but, no foul.
I’m done with them and unfortunately my local newspaper is one of them. The Clarion is owned by a media conglomerate that also owns dozens of other local papers. In the process, have they denied these communities half of their local news? We get in depth coverage of the oil spill, no matter how insignificant, but we don’t hear anything about the endless donations made by the oil industry to our local communities. We see the difficulties that are faced by teachers and medical workers in heartbreaking detail, but the hardships of the airlines, restaurants, commercial fishing and oilfield workers are all but ignored unless there’s an angle that promotes the msm’s ever important agendas. Dozens of communities have lost their local newspapers to this cartel.
The majority of the citizens on the Kenai Peninsula hold somewhat conservative values. Republicans scored a landslide shutout in Novembers elections on the Peninsula. Why, in the world, in a time that newspaper’s are struggling to survive, would a local newspaper in a conservative area such as the Kenai Peninsula constantly push liberal agendas and expect to sell papers?
They do it because they are on a mission. I will no longer support that mission. My apologies to the local Clarion employees that are in most cases, just doing their jobs and following orders. A local paper can, and should be, a beautiful thing. However this subscription renewal is headed for the trash can.