The News

When I was a kid, like 65 years ago, we watched the evening news on a black and white TV and depending on your preferences you listen to a distinguished anchor and their team of reporters, and you could take to the bank the information they reported. I can vividly remember Walter Cronkite night after night and the level of trust that he conveyed.

Look and listen/read  the news today. TV, Cable, Internet, Text, Social Media. The range, the content, the point of view, the bias, is extraordinary. That said, I am grateful we have the opportunity to participate and express content, points of view, and bias, but where can we find the facts and the truth?

Our founding documents speak to and call for a free press. A call I strongly support. The challenge is a free press that also is one that delivers the facts, is unbiased, trusted, and protected from censorship.

Such a press can only work with ownership that honors the founder’s call. This is not to say the opinion page and editorial section that presents different perspectives, is valuable. The point is it is identified as opinion.

The free, fact-based press is a valuable community and national resource and an asset to our democracy. I have the privilege of being involved with the Bucks County Herald and working with their nonprofit foundation in supporting the costs of running the paper. A model that is increasingly being used to bring a free press to the market as advertising in the current landscape does not cover the full cost.

I call on you to support your local paper and the value it brings to your community. To vote and act with integrity we need to have unbiased reporting and the associated accountability and trustworthiness.

Facts and the truth matter. Make sure the wisdom of the founders continues to provide a critical tool to protect our freedoms. Support your free press, as a subscriber, as an advertiser, as a reader, and where you can as a donor.

As we know all to well, freedom is not free.