Sometimes, the truth hurts

Sometimes I have to sit back and simply have a good laugh when it comes to the outpouring of upheaval by some people commenting on our website.

It’s always funny to me how people have selective memory or simply out and out lie when it comes to comments they make about stories which have appeared in this newspaper.

One of my favorites is how we so blatantly twist the truth and aren’t reporting the news as it should be reported. Some say we just make things up and then print them as facts.
Here’s the problem.

In both my personal columns and the daily editorials which are written, I have asked for people to come into my office, bring the newspapers which are so blatantly wrong, highlight the problems and show me why I should print a correction. I have done this over and over.

Yet I’m still waiting for someone to bring in these stories and prove to me they were wrong. The invitation stands open.

This isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been slammed for perceived “yellow journalism.” It probably won’t be the last.

The reason is we are digging around and it’s making people feel uncomfortable. I’m not saying anything bad about anyone who previously sat in this chair. They had their own styles. But I will say there was a real lack of good journalism when it comes to dealing with very tough issues.

I am the first to say it’s not easy dealing with a lot of these issues. In fact, it is very hard. But that’s exactly the reason we are dealing with matters that make some people uncomfortable.

It would be easy for us to write about ice cream socials and chicken dinners. Our lives would have a lot less stress. And I want to emphasize right here that we do write about those things — all of the time. From Mardi Gras on Main to achievements of area school students, these pages are filled with positive news on a daily basis.

But that doesn’t deter us from tackling what we feel are issues which need to be aired openly. And there are plenty of these issues.

I believe the most difficult part of this for some people is the fact this newspaper has not taken on such tasks in the past. It was pretty much the status quo for years and years. Government bodies in many cases were basically left to police themselves and weren’t being watched by this newspaper.

That was a shirking of duty on the part of the newspaper and we’ve changed that dramatically.

It’s also no secret that when journalists are nosing around looking at financial records and other important matters, it makes some people nervous. That’s how it should be.

I had a good friend who lived by a very simple saying, “Do the right thing.”

That is such a powerful, yet simple, statement. This particular person was in government and knew that if he did the right things, there was nothing to hide. That didn’t mean there weren’t mistakes made or that the newspaper gave them a pass. Quite the opposite. That particular entity was taken to task on several occasions for questionable actions. That’s understandable because governments aren’t pretty and mistakes can be made.

By the same token, when those mistakes were made, and then admitted to with corrective action attached, it made things much more smoothly.

It’s called accountability and that is a very hard thing to make happen when it hasn’t for so many years. Simple things like record filing and tracking checks which are written are central to accountability. But in some instances, it appears that hasn’t happened.

Maybe this can all be chalked up to a simple lack of knowledge or caring. Or maybe some of it is actual criminal behavior. Time will tell which is the case.

In the meantime, we have a job to do and we’re not going to stop because a few blowhards think we’re practicing some sort of corrupt journalism. The opposite is actually true.

And that’s what a lot of this boils down to — the truth. The truth, it has been said, will set you free. But it’s also been said that sometimes, the truth hurts. The latter seems to be the case in many of these local  matters.

Little is editor of The Wayne Independent and can be reached at editor@wayneindependent.com.