EDITOR’S NOTE: Respecting the readers

EDITOR’S NOTE By Hank Kalet Concerns of media misconceptions.

   The news recently has been full of stories that should raise red flags for anyone concerned about the state of the news business.
   A major network news operation is attempting to reinvent itself and rebuild its credibility after it aired a report in October that relied on false documents; a well-known conservative commentator has admitted to taking money to tout a Bush administration education initiative; and about 40 local television stations around the country ran fake news reports produced by the federal government.
   And these recent gaffes come on the heels of plagiarism problems at The New York Times and USA Today.
   News reports like these concern me because they create an impression in the mind of the public that the news media as a whole cannot be trusted.
   There already is the misconception out there that the news media regularly displays a liberal bias, a perception with roots so deep I doubt they can ever be fully extricated.
   I know that I’ve received letters and e-mails accusing the South Brunswick Post of being a liberal paper, a charge I believe is based solely on the presence of my column on the editorial page and editorials that tend to take a more liberal view of issues. But that’s in the editorial section, where opinions rule, and not the news sections. And, as I’ve told callers and written in previous Editor’s Notes, my Dispatches column and our editorials are not the last word on any issue. Readers have a variety of avenues through which they can respond, including letters to the editor and the Reader’s Voice column.
   If there is a bias in the Post, it is a bias toward South Brunswick. We believe we are a major part of this community and view our role as both the purveyor of the news that happens here and advocate for its residents. We tell our readers’ stories and explain what is happening around them, how their community is changing and what it might mean for them.
   But that does not mean our news stories take sides or that we do not do what we can to ensure that what we are presenting is as accurate as it can be.
   No story is assigned without discussion among the editors and reporters and every completed story is read by at least two editors. If there are holes — whether they be missing information, holes in logic, etc. — we do what we can to plug them. If they can’t be plugged satisfactorily, then we will hold the story or kill it outright.
   That does not mean that mistakes will not be made. They will be — we are human, after all — but when they are, we correct them.
   I instituted this Editor’s Note, in part, as a way to give our readers a view inside our decision-making process, to make it more transparent and to enhance the sense that we always operate in good faith and with the best of intentions.
   I hope it has been successful and I ask that readers of the Post continue to contact me with questions, with complaints and with praise. The more I hear from you, the better the Post can be.
The Editor’s Note column will run as often as necessary as a way to explain the workings of the South Brunswick Post to our readers. So, please, send me your questions about the paper, about the news business, about the decisions we’ve made and any suggestions you have. I’ll try and answer as many as I can in future Editor’s Notes. Call me at (732) 329-9214, write me at P.O. Box 309, Dayton, N.J. 08810 or e-mail me at [email protected].