Media Malevolence

   The days of taking a horsewhip to an editor when a reader doesn't like news coverage are long gone, only to be replaced by an angry reader with a shotgun.
   Worse, the retaliation against "fake news" in what the president has called "the enemy of people" may well have played a part in encouraging the recent newsroom attack on a daily newspaper in Annapolis.
   It seems one man nursed a grudge against the newspaper for years after it published a story about him that he didn't like, and even sued the paper for defamation.
   The suit was dismissed, largely because he had admitted to the charges filed against him in court. In any case, the best defense against a libel or defamation charge is that the information published is true, and therefore not libel.
   Nonetheless, the grudge-carrier blasted his way into the newsroom recently and killed five journalists.
   Every journalist can talk about being threatened over a story that was published. That's why reporters and editors develop a thick skin. Now, it seems they may also have to wear body armor.
   The Capital Gazette in Annapolis is not a major newspaper, and you won't find it among the top 100 dailies in America, since its circulation is less than 40,000 copies daily. That's about the size of many community daily newspapers in America. Papers this size typically emphasize local coverage of municipal and county news, as well as crime reports and courthouse activity.
   They do not publish "fake news." And rather than being "the enemy of the people," newspapers -- especially at this level, both daily and weekly -- are the friends of the people.
   The duty and responsibility of newspapers is to keep readers informed of developments in their communities, so they can make appropriate decisions  about their government.
   In a sense, all news is local, and this applies to news media that serve readers at the local, county and state levels, as well as national and international.
   Many readers don't like the idea of their names being in the paper, especially if they've been caught being naughty. But children outgrow that anger over being caught doing things they shouldn't.
   Unfortunately, some adults -- especially politicians -- never outgrow that, and instead attack those who expose their wrongdoing.
   No surprise, then, that some who hear these virulent verbal attacks on news media take that as permission to go to physical attacks.
   We've seen it at political rallies, as supporters verbally abuse reporters for doing their jobs. Now we see it in newsrooms, as disgruntled readers substitute shotguns for verbal abuse.