Independent Journalism

Do  you want to fix blame, or fix the problem? -- Pug Mahoney

That's a stupid question.-- Politician

There are no stupid questions; there are only stupid answers. -- News Editor

   In less than four months, 40,000 Americans have died from the corona virus. That's an average of more than 10,000 each month, since the disease first struck in Seattle in late January.
   It has ignored all borders, whether social, geographical, political, ethnic or racial.
   Yet political opponents argue over whether and when to reopen business lanes  so people can travel to wherever they like, thus carrying the virus with them and spreading it to others, even if they show no symptoms themselves.
   "It's not in my town, so why should I worry?" many say. "Besides, the fake news media carries this phony story just to frighten us into voting for some new guy."
   As if there is mass coordination of news coverage among the thousands of newspapers, magazines, broadcast networks and online journalism outlets, with a single leader dictating how a story is to be covered. As if every local, state and federal health and medical agency all get together to use the same made-up number to describe a crisis that political leaders claim does not exist.
   As if they all lie, except for that one political leader insists he knows from his instinct what the real truth is.
   Instinct versus reality.
   So who will you believe, plain numbers from impartial observers or from a politician obsessed with his need for agreement from everyone, regardless of reality?
   The current occupant of the Oval Office resorts to insult and mockery of reporters who ask questions that he doesn't like. But that doesn't make any question go away. It only shows that the government leader expects journalists to be part of his team.
   They're not, and in a free society they never will be.
   Even if he issues an executive order suspending or canceling the First Amendment to the Constitution.