Talking about trust

JG3 gets off to a great start in Syracuse opener

The Front Page

Morning Update

Thursday, November 11, 2021

By Ken Tingley

Over the past month I have had three events to talk about life, newspapers and my collection of columns. There is nothing I like more than talking about newspapers.

For the first time Tuesday, someone asked about trust in the media.

Someone else said they were worried about local newspapers.

It was good to hear the concern. 

It was a good topic to address.

One man struggled with the words, then said he wished the media would offer more “retractions.”

I asked him if he meant “corrections.”

I told him that newspapers and reporters print lots of corrections. In fact, they are encouraged to correct any information that is wrong.  A “retraction” is something quite different. It is acknowledging something should never have been printed.

For the most part, those judgments are made before something goes into print. Information is vetted, stories are edited and then published. It is rare that a “retraction” is needed. A “retraction” is an acknowledgment that the system failed.

Surveys show that most people still trust their local news outlets, but even that trust has been eroding and I’m not sure why.

Readers sometimes complained to me that The Associated Press - the last major wire service in the country - was biased. I explained the AP had 10,000 employees around the world and is a non-profit and it seemed unlikely that a media outlet that large could be forced to violate its ethics en masse.

I’ve heard other people say corporations control everything in the media. I counter by telling them Lee Enterprises - which owns The Post-Star and is the fourth largest newspaper chain in the country - never once instructed me on what to write, which stories to publish or who to endorse in an election.

Never.

The man who asked about the “retractions” said he had a problem with a story about him years ago. The story neglected to tell his side of the story and made him look bad. He related how he called me on the phone and gave me an earful. I didn’t remember the specific story or the man’s call. Editors get an earful quite often in their line of work.

But he also said I listened and found a way to make things right.

That is what an editor is supposed to do. When there is a mistake, when a reporter is a little sloppy in his reporting, you want to make things right. Of course, it is better to get it right the first time around.

We straightened out the problem and the man was still a newspaper supporter all these years later.

Reporters and editors are human beings who sometimes make mistakes. I lamented in recent years, many people believe the mistakes are made on purpose to mislead them. Why would someone intentionally get something wrong when it will just make them look bad.

This was a newspaper audience.

This was a crowd that still loved to read its newspaper over the breakfast table.

I still start my day that way. I believe many readers miss that. Reading the newspaper to start your day was an enjoyable experience. It prepared you for the day ahead.

Local news is important. To be good citizens, we have to know what is going on in our community. And maybe more importantly, we have to trust the men and women who are reporting it.

Hopefully, our discussion is just the beginning of a larger discussion about trusting members of the media and asking ourselves what do we believe and why.

It was a great audience Tuesday at the Glens Falls Senior Center.

More events

If you haven’t been able to make one of my events yet, I have a couple more next week.

I will be appearing at the Senior Center of Kingsbury and Fort Edward on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. and then the Stony Creek Free Library on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m.

JG3 is back

Glens Falls’ Joe Girard III, the all-time leading scorer in high school basketball in the state of New York, got off to a great start in the first game of his junior year Tuesday night.

Girard, the starting point guard for the third straight year, scored 20 points and was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range. It was great to see Girard find his stroke again.

These opening season games can be misleading. Lafayette was obviously not in Syracuse’s class, but the team looked like it had some potential.

`Dopesick’ follow up

My column on the opioid crisis earlier this week was timely. On Tuesday, a federal judge threw out the $600 million settlement with Johnson and Johnson. Warren County was supposed to reap between $150,000 to $350,000 from that settlement.

There had been 21 overdose deaths in the county through July. And still no one is being held accountable.

Tweet of the Day

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When entertaining during the holiday season, remember: people over 25 don’t like new music; they like old music they’re unfamiliar with even less (this does not apply to jazz)