Today, with anger aforethought, I attack the profession that has sustained me for 50 years. I hereby sink my teeth into the news media.

If media giants such as NBC, CNN, Fox, New York Times and Los Angeles Times think they have the First Amendment right to express bias under the guise of news, then I also have the right, as a small town news guy who churned out a few barrels of ink in my day. The difference is I choose to express opinion in a place labeled as a personal opinion column - not in a news story. 

I don’t suspect there will be too many of you out there who will disagree with what you are about to read, unless you’re one of those who is out of touch with journalistic reality - and integrity.

It is definitely a world of media spin. Readers, and listeners, need to protect themselves. It’s not easy. First, you need to know what you consider to be true from an objective standpoint. You need to carefully scrutinize selection of news sources in newspapers as well as broadcast.

Walter Lippman, legendary journalist, political scientist, author and adviser to presidents, put his spin on the situation a generation ago in his book, “Public Opinion:”

Every newspaper when it reaches the reader is the result of a whole series of selections. In order that (the reader) shall enter he must find a familiar foothold in the story, and this is supplied to him by the use of stereotypes. They tell him that if an association of plumbers is called a ‘combine’ it is appropriate to develop his hostility; if it is called a ‘group of leading businessmen,’ the cue is for a favorable reaction. It is in a combination of these elements that the power to create opinion arises.

I get a kick out of guys like Bill O’Reilly and his “no spin zone” on Fox News. If ever there was a spin master, O’Reilly gets the Academy Award. Besides that, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a more self-centered, egotistical person in my life. Yet, he claims to be a fair and balanced “news reporter.”

I believe the national media is so biased, and reckless, in its news coverage because the editors, news directors and reporters are out of touch with the average American. They don’t have the opportunity, and privilege, of talking with the average Joe every day at the coffee shop or grocery store like small town journalists up here in Northern Michigan and in other small communities across the country.

Because they are out of touch, national as well as many big city media outlets lack the compassion possessed by most small town newspaper journalists. I’ve found also most don’t have the passion demonstrated by those of us on Main Street America.

My newspaper motto has always been: “We don’t make the news - we just print it.” The problem in Wall Street and Big Town America today is that the media is not only faltering in printing and airing the news objectively. They, themselves, are the headlines. Matter of fact, that’s what’s happening right here in this space. (How did I fall into this trap?)

Half the time, they fill their space or airwaves with attacks on each other. CNN vs. Fox. New York Times vs. whatever conservative media it can track down. Left wing media against right.

Over the years, as a very news-focused small town newspaper, we did a pretty good job of reporting and analyzing news and its impact. As a publisher, I tried to instill into our editors and staff writers the importance of not only getting it right but knowing when to back off a story when there was nothing of substance. We made mistakes along the way, but we never ceased being conscious of serious consequences that could result from failure to get all the facts.

One thing for certain: when we made mistakes, we admitted it - in print.

I’ve always viewed TV and radio as geared more toward entertainment than news. I put guys like O’Reilly and Dobbs in the entertainment category.

The primary focus of newspapers is, and always will be (I hope), news. I’ve always taken this responsibility seriously.

That’s why it really bothers me that the loss of respect and trust in the major media is hurting small town newspapers. It’s not justified, but it’s a black cloud hanging over us.

I think, however, small town newspapers will weather the national media storm, as well as the current economic dilemma. With the help of the Internet, I believe small town newspapers, will be around for a long time.

But they will not bring objective news reporting to you in the format to which you have been so accustomed. This change is happening already in much of small town America.

-- Jim Grisso is publisher emeritus of the Gaylord Herald Times. You can write to him at PO Box 598, Gaylord, MI 49734 or e-mail jim@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

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