NewsBeat

10 NewsBeat October 2018 For me, idle death threats are now the norm. (I don't take them seriously, because if I did, I'd never feel at peace.) But forget the personal animus or safety issues reporters now face. American democracy requires a functioning press that informs voters and creates a shared set of facts. If journalists are going to defend the integrity of their work, and the role it plays in sustaining democracy, we're going to need to start fighting back. The idea that our work will speak for itself is hopelessly naive. Fox, Limbaugh, and the rest of the Trump echo chamber have proved that. Meanwhile, even in Ailes's absence, Fox seems more comfortable than ever pushing the limits of responsible behavior by a supposed news organization. It recently allowed a sitting state attorney general to co-host a show for three days. The network effectively gave a GOP candidate for Florida governor nearly unfettered access to its airwaves during his primary campaign, providing a more significant boost than any super pac can offer. The fact that so few viewers batted an eye shows how conditioned they have become to the network's unique ethical standards. Does this mean that other cable-news networks should follow Fox News's lead and become advocates? That's not the answer. Newspapers did this in the early 19th century, when they operated as arms of the political parties. And while American democracy survived, the polarization of the early republic produced threats, brandished weapons, and even open violence on the floors of Congress with shocking regularity. Instead of attacking rivals, or assailing critics — going negative, in the parlance of political campaigns — reporters need to showcase and defend our reporting. Every day, we need to do our job, check our facts, strive to be transparent, and say what we're seeing. That's what I've tried to do here. I've seen a nearly 50-year campaign to delegitimize the press, and I'm saying so. For years, I didn't say a word about this publicly, and at times I even caught myself drawing false equivalencies because I was afraid of being labeled as biased. I know that stating the obvious will draw attacks, but I've also learned that the louder critics bark, the more they care about what's being reported. I'm not advocating for a more activist press in the political sense, but for a more aggressive one. That means having a lower tolerance for talking points, and a greater willingness to speak plain truths. It means not allowing ourselves to be spun, and not giving guests or sources a platform to spin our readers and viewers, even if that angers them. Access isn't journalism's holy grail — facts are. The truth is that most journalists, in newsrooms large and small across the country, are doing their best each day to be fair, honest, and direct. These values are what Americans demand of one another, and it should be what they demand of their media. The challenge for viewers and readers is this: Ask yourself why someone is so determined to convince you not to believe your lying eyes. (Continued from previous page) newyorkpublicnotices.com We Need Your Support! NEW YORK PUBLIC NOTICES NewYorkPublishNotices.com is a joint venture of the New York Press Association, the New York News Publishers Association, and American Lawyer Media (publishers of the New York Law Journal). This website is a public service made possible by the newspapers of New York. The website needs to evolve into a comprehensive database of public notices published throughout the state — It can become that only if all newspapers upload all of their notices. The website will be a tool in our quest to keep public notices in print newspapers. We need your support — if you need help with the procedures for uploading notices, please contact jill@nynewspapers.com. NEWYORKPUBLICNOTICES.COM

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