MERCED COUNTY NEWS TELEVISONS NEW YEARS RESOLUTION(S)... An editorial. MERCED COUNTY, CA - It is no secret that journalism is no longer the beat writer, assigned specifically to city/county government or the halls of justice, devoting most of the day to the type of investigative journalism that exposes corruption and serves as a check and balance for community members like us who depend on our leaders to...well...LEAD! Journalism has become and will continue to rely on ALL OF US. With access to information and the ability to distribute that information with the push of a button on our smartphones, both YOU and I can make a difference. My responsibility and solemn vow to you is to try my best to preserve the integrity of whatever story we publish and in the end, leave it up to you, the community, to push when our leaders need to be pushed, to praise when our leaders deserve to be praised, and to shine the light on corruption or wrongdoing. In the end, our community deserves no less! I realize that we will not always share the same opinion and sometimes we will disagree strongly. Freedom of Speech is a wonderful thing and as long as we respect each other and express our views with a common goal...PROGRESS...this project will continue to grow, improve, and ultimately succeed. Just an editorial note on our stories. Until now, myself and the devoted volunteers to this project have poured our time and energy into getting stories out to you as quickly as possible. We do this for many reasons. Most of the time it is to prevent the spin cycle from clouding the real issues. Sometimes I have to hold my hands up and as Homer Simpson does, say Doh when I see a typo or hanging participle for you English teachers out there. Sometimes the excitement of a really important story jumps ahead of the proof-reading process. Be patient, I can and will improve with the quality of the site. However, one of the areas that frustrates me to no end and should frustrate all of you as well, is the failure of our public officials, the gatekeepers of information, to uphold the very important concept of transparency. I have repeatedly asked for information that I believe is required to be released under the Freedom of Information Act and I am repeatedly denied access. I completely understand and believe in the need for secrecy in pending investigations, confidentiality in personnel issues when legally required, and many other legitimate reasons that may cause us not have immediate access to certain pieces of information. But too many times, I believe I am denied access to information for reasons that are...well...lets just say not reasonable. My promise to you is that whenever I am denied access or when government officials or subjects of stories refuse to talk to me, I will run the story with the information I have based on the statements I have received. If the information is clearly not credible, I wont run it, but I will always err on the side of publishing and letting the community decide for themselves the credibility of the story. I will not hide the story from full view of the community. In a perfect world, everyone would be transparent. Unfortunately that doesnt seem to be the rule here in Merced County. Rather it is the exception. I am hopeful that this will change and OUR project gains momentum and grows into a serious case for progress and change. I can only do this with your help. Wishing all of you a very Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year! Merced County News Television Your Community Your Voice
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:38:29 +0000
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