Today, hundreds of news outlets across the country — from The New York Times to small-town dailies to alternative newsweeklies — are a part of a joint, coordinated effort to stand up to President Trump's assault on press freedoms.
We are not "the enemy of the people." CityBeat has been a voice in Greater Cincinnati for nearly a quarter of a century now, publishing a print edition weekly and producing regular content throughout the week online to try to help keep you informed of what is happening in your city. Over the past 24 years, we have faced intimidation and efforts to shut down our attempts to report on matters important to our community, from religious organizations to business leaders to government officials.
We, of course, stand with the rest of our sisters and brothers in the press to say to all citizens, "We are not your enemy."
Shoutout to the editors, columnists and news reporters — Nick Swartsell, Nancy Firor, Gregory Flannery, German Lopez, Stephanie Dunlap, Kathy Y. Wilson, Leslie Blade, Andy Brownfield, John Fox and many, many others — who've helped CityBeat develop and sustain our mission in Cincinnati for the past 24 years.
Here are a few random samples of the editorials being run today.
"In 2018, some of the most damaging attacks are coming from government officials. Criticizing the news media — for underplaying or overplaying stories, for getting something wrong — is entirely right. News reporters and editors are human, and make mistakes. Correcting them is core to our job. But insisting that truths you don’t like are 'fake news' is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the 'enemy of the people' is dangerous, period."
“At a practical level, we journalists sit through boring government meetings and learn about public school financing formulas, so you don’t have to. It’s not as lofty a statement as the First Amendment, but it serves.”
“A person who blasts reliable news sources as fake when they prove him wrong on an issue, or when it reveals his self-contradictions or his ignorance, or whenever he simply doesn’t like it, is denying reality.”'
The Mountrail County Promoter:
“North Dakota newspapers are not ‘fake news.’ We are documenting the stories and histories of our towns.”
“Being open to legitimate criticism and being committed to publishing verifiable facts are keys to preserving trust in a free and fair press. We aren’t perfect, and when we make errors, we correct them.”
“Our job as journalists, first and foremost, is to inform. And while we at Atlantic City Weekly are entertainment driven, that in no way means that we relish in or relay any gossip, rumors or innuendo.”
“Because Trump knows little about policy or history, it is tempting to imagine that he knows nothing at all. This is a mistake. He knows well that the American press is hardly popular and, in many ways, is on the defensive.”
