What’s up over there at Lassen News?

If you had suggested to me a few years ago that someday I would find myself the publisher of a digital newspaper, I would have laughed out loud right in your face. And yet, here I am today.

They say once you work in the newspaper business and get ink in your veins, you’re a goner. I can firmly attest to the truth of that assertion.

I didn’t get infected initially when as a teenager I toiled at my first newspaper job — not as a writer, but as a photographic technician creating the halftones, negatives and printing plates that eventually would be mounted on the printing presses.

No computers in those days — everything was analog back then and every element — photo, story, advertisement — required the creation of its own individual hard copy.

Back in those days we set type on a machine called a Linotype that created a single line of type on a thin metal strip of hot lead. (That’s how the machine found its name, and why the space between lines of type is called leading to this day.)

Those lines of metal type were arranged in order, set in a chase and a single copy was printed on a letterpress only to be passed through a waxer, cut into strips, aligned and pasted by skilled hands into their proper place in columns on the page with all those other elements by those in the composing department before coming to me.

I hated those Linotype machines because they frequently spit spurts of hot, molten lead at the operator’s feet and legs as well as those of innocent passersby like me.

But even worse, when I didn’t have anything to do in the darkroom, I had to venture to the back room, melt down all those used, discarded strips of lead, skim off the dross and then pour the clean, shiny, good-as-new molten metal into molds that once again would hang in the Linotypes to be melted down and formed into new lines of type when needed.

You see, I became involved with this kind of work when Lyndon Johnson served as president, and that, I can assure you, was an awfully long time ago.

I got my first full-time job as a writer soon after I graduated from college, and since then I’ve been making my living as a writer for more than half my life. Frankly, it seems a bit silly for me to have to explain my editorial choices, but I see the comments people post on LassenNews, and today I feel the urge to respond.

I know I am very old school in my view of journalism and its role in my community. I get that.

Perhaps the most fundamental element of my view of journalism is my belief in the absolute separation of news and opinion — a now quaint, old-fashioned principle almost completely ignored and totally abandoned by the media today, most especially the digital media and social media outlets.

Come on. You’ve been there. We all have.

In their news stories they’ll call the Republicans Nazis or the Democrats communists. I must point out such statements are simply and completely 100 percent pure opinion. They are not news in any way. These lines have been blurred for so long now, it seems to be a distinction that’s hard for some folks to make these days.

But beware. When your news source dehumanizes its opposition with labels like these, stoops to name-calling or character slurs, you’re not ingesting news, you’re feasting upon opinion being force fed to you.

When a talking head on the radio says, “Well, here’s another stupid thing they did in Sacramento today,” I hope a little light of recognition will go off in your head — Wow! That’s an opinion!

Likewise, when newscasters and their guests gather around a desk or sprawl on couches and the anchor says, “OK. Let’s discuss!” That ain’t news. It’s a talk show. Again, it’s opinion, not news.

There just aren’t many straight news sources remaining today. I hope Lassen News will always be one of the survivors and that we always carry and further that irrefutable standard.

Now please don’t’ get me wrong. I won’t criticize those who freely mix news and opinion together. That separation of news and opinion, that ethical standard, is purely self-imposed.

Back when I was an angry young man, I would have enjoyed working at a publication that regularly skewered the other side as deeply and as brutally as possible. I recognize and understand what these news outlets are doing and why. They are political partisans pushing their side of the aisle, and that’s perfectly OK with me, even though I disagree with their approach — simply because it ain’t news. It’s opinion.

We Americans enjoy the First Amendment and freedom of speech and all that, so I completely and staunchly support the right of anyone and everyone to present their stuff exactly as they want, exactly as they see fit, but personally I will always believe news is news and opinion is opinion and both suffer severely along with the truth when blended together. I don’t think anyone can change my mind about this point.

And here’s the thing. If I publish a statement by Congressman John Garamendi, I don’t do it because I necessarily agree with him. I do it because he’s one of our elected leaders speaking out on the issues of the day. Same thing if I publish a statement by Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Same thing with Where I Stand pieces and other opinions such as Letters to the Editor. And if I personally have an opinion to express, I will do so in a piece that is clearly identified as I am doing here and now.

The same thing when I post a news story about, say the recent No Kings event on Main Street. By publishing that information, I am not alleging the president is a king. I am not encouraging anyone to rush out and join the protest. I am simply trying to inform our readers about what is happening in our community.

Here’s a little context with which many may not be familiar.

Back in the day after the Articles of Confederation proved unworkable, the Founding Fathers set out to write the Constitution we know today. And they sought the necessary public support to ratify their ideas.

Yep, in the late 1780s, Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison wrote 85 essays that have become known as the Federalist Papers urging their fellow citizens to support their concept of a new, stronger federal government.

But not all the Founding Fathers agreed with them. The so-called Anti-Federalists including Patrick Henry, George Mason and sometimes Thomas Jefferson, thought the new federal government as proposed would be too powerful and infringe upon the rights of both individuals and the states. In fact, they refused to support the new Constitution unless the Federalists agreed include the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.

And where do you suppose these Founding Fathers turned to get their opposing ideas out into the public discourse? You guessed it — the newspapers.

Please understand — I am not trying to make anyone agree with me. I am not trying to make anyone share my opinions about things, especially because I generally keep my opinions about the events of the day to myself.

I leave the wisdom of your political preferences to you, and I honor your right to hold whatever opinion you desire for whatever reasons seem appropriate to you. I do that most especially if we disagree.

Arthur Miller said, “A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “Were it left to me to decide if we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter … ” and, “The only security of all is a free press.”

I hope LassenNews will always continue its dedication to this goal of informing the public, keeping news and opinion separate and being a free and open marketplace of ideas that avoids some murky, partisan lens.

If we don’t consider ideas from a variety of different points of view, how in the world can we possibly make the important, informed decisions we all must make as citizens? I believe it is our civic responsibility to be informed on the issues of the day.

I am doing LassenNews for one reason — to serve my community. I’m not trying to get rich. I’m not trying to rule the world. I’m not trying to make you be like me.

If you’d ever like to speak with me or offer a comment or a news story, my phone number is (530) 310-0459. My email is swilliams@lassennews.com.

Thank you for reading and supporting LassenNews.