It’s true. 

The public has trust issues with the media. 

It is hard not to be influenced when you hear the phrase “fake news” over and over again. 

The words fake news are, more often than not, used for reporting that the accuser disagrees with and not something that has been fabricated by the reporter or news organization. 

We are not throwing the national media under a bus, by any means, but we do not want to be lumped in with those major outlets that have become constant targets and synonymous with that terminology. 

You can trust your local newspaper. 

You may not always agree with an editorial or some column or cartoon we publish. Heck, we often don’t agree with columns and cartoons either. 

We may not always cover everything you wish that we would and sometimes we may write about things that you wish that we wouldn’t. 

We are committed to holding local government accountable, providing in-depth reporting on important subjects and being the leading source of information in our region. 

We may be a lot of things but we are not fake. 

We are real people, covering real events in real sincere ways, doing our best to bring you the news and information you want and need to know. 

Sure, there are things we can do better, and we are constantly working hard to improve. 

Right now, one of the things we are trying to do is practice what we preach. We talk a lot about government transparency and often tell government officials if they want to be trusted be open, transparent and accessible. 

We have not always been as open, transparent and accessible as we could or should be. 

So, lately we have been lifting the veil on the newsroom and we fully intend to keep doing just that. 

Each week you can watch one of our news budget, or planning, meetings on Facebook Live. We just call it BudgetLive and it is live streamed each Tuesday at 10 a.m. This week, we started live streaming and video taping our editorial board meetings where we meet to talk about issues facing our communities and positions taken on the editorial page. Viewer warning: It’s long and sometimes drags a bit but these are important discussions. 

Our editors are now doing video editorials where they sit down and have candid discussions about an editorial and the thought processes behind it. The video editorials can be found in the video section of the website and under the Opinion tab as well. 

In a few weeks we will host a community afternoon coffee, a listening session, open to everyone where you can come comment, ask questions and learn as much as you want to know about Your News. Your Voice. Your Times.