COMMENTARY: We are not purveyors of ‘fake news’

Now the White House is saying videos of President Joe Biden suggesting he is mentally impaired and physically frail are being modified to create what are being described as “cheap fakes.”

Welcome to the information world of 2024. Distinguishing between real news and the “fake” is increasingly difficult as media interact with audience and institutions in the same way as those anything but committed to professional standards of reporting. Add the growing importance of artificial intelligence and determining what is legitimate and what is not will become even more difficult.

Putting media of all types into a big pot with an assessment that all operate outside journalistic standards of objectivity is unfair, wrong and dangerous. And as much as criticism is aimed primarily at national media, which too often fail to distinguish between news and opinion, all journalists are being painted with the same brush.

In our country, political leaders from the president to the mayor, from state lawmakers to local school board members are to be watched over by a free and aggressive media. Without the press in the watchdog role, there is no free flow of information to a public that holds the power over government at the ballot box.

To be certain, local government leaders are not always happy with reporting in this newspaper. They call us out when we are wrong — and they should. They criticize our reporting. But they do not accuse us of reporting “fake news.”

Our journalists are serious about their mission. We care deeply about our communities. We care deeply about our nation. We work long hours and face many obstacles in trying to serve our audience in places thousands of miles from the national cable news pundits telling us what to think.

Newspapers are on the front line of bringing people the news of their locales that has little to do with right vs. left in Washington.

Journalists deserve and receive criticism every day. We accept it not as adversaries of the people but as people doing jobs essential to the fabric of our system. Take away a free press and you take away freedom.

If you want to know more about your community, from how it is being governed to the interesting people calling it home, count on local media. Subscribe to our website, TheTandD.com, and give us the opportunity to make “real” local news a necessary part of your life.

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