Can we trust the media?

I saw a quote from Mark Twain a few days ago. “If you don’t read the paper, you are uninformed.   If you do read it, you are mis-informed.”

When it comes to the national and world news media outlets, I must say I totally agree with Mr. Twain. I don’t trust any of them. They all have their own agenda and tend to tell us what to think. 

Unlike Walter Cronkite who reported the news and let the people make their own decisions about it. Frankly the “conservative” side is just as bad as the “liberal” side. Neither side wants to just report the news so we can decide what our opinion should be. 

That made me think about the news media in general and our local papers in particular. I am not a reporter at our local paper, I am a columnist, which means I can get away with a lot more than a reporter can. I can actually voice an opinion. 

The reporters can only do that when they are doing the opinion column. Since I stand outside of the hard reporting, I can be objective in my opinion of my reporter friends that work at all three of the papers in Big Horn County. 

I think they all do a pretty good job of keeping their opinions to themselves. They report town council meetings, commissioners’ meetings, various board meetings, sports, elections and court proceedings 

All the while doing a bang up job of keeping themselves out of the reporting. Are we all perfect? Not by any means, but I haven’t seen any of the reporters that I work with writing out of their own agenda. 

When a council meeting, commissioner’s meeting or one of the many board meetings is reported it is reported. The facts are presented; any opinions are those of the meeting speakers and are put in the articles as quotes. The reporter can think someone is acting like a total dingbat, but the reporting doesn’t come across that way. They report the meeting, that is all. 

Yes, we make mistakes as reporters and columnists. I got myself in trouble in my column some years back because I used something someone told me without checking it out first and ended up having to apologize for it not being true. So yes, we all do make mistakes. Sometimes it is hard to keep our own feelings out of the writing. We are after all human and therefore imperfect creatures. 

If a reader has questions about how a meeting is reported, they can always go to the organization and ask for the minutes of the meeting. They can then compare the minutes to the reported article and see if the reporting is accurate. Since the reporters I know all record the meetings and write the articles from the recordings along with their notes, I am sure it will be pretty accurate. 

Before 1928 Basin had two newspapers, the Basin Republican and the Big Horn County Rustler. After reading some accounts about certain issues in both papers of the same week I can see why Mark Twain made the comment he did. The reporting was skewed. For example, one particular political rally. One paper reported a large crowd, and the other reported “about 15 people.” 

So whether or not you trust the national and international news media. I personally feel that you can trust our local newspapers. I am honored to work with the crews of these fine papers.

Speaking of newspapers, here is a recipe I found in the 1926 edition of the Big Horn County Rustler.

Beef Tenderloin with String Beans in Potato Cups

Rub a little salt over the surface of the roast and fasten strips of salt pork over it. Set on a rack in a small pan and into a hot oven; let cook 5 minutes, then turn over all sides baste with the drippings and dredge with flour. At the end of 10 minutes reduce the heat and let cook 20 minutes longer, basting often. Place the roast in the center of a platter. Force mashed potatoes through a pastry bag to form cases and fill these with fine cut string beans. Garnish with carrot balls shaped with a potato ball cutter.