Heroes stand tall in 'war on truth'

SANTA ROSA — Could it be that Time magazine is abandoning the “great man” perspective on history, one in which larger-than-life individuals shape world events, for a “people’s history” narrative in which common people have the greater impact?

That would explain why the magazine has chosen a group of people, rather than individuals, as its “Person of the Year” for three of the last five years.

Or maybe it’s because the magazine is just catching up with the realization that people, collectively, have a bigger influence over world events than individuals do.

That said, this year’s selection of “the guardians of the truth” as Time’s Person of the Year is, in my opinion, a great one. Yes, I’m totally subjective in saying that because, as a journalist, my bias is in favor of the facts, and even from my perch in Small Town New Mexico I can see how certain truths are under attack.

It’s good to see the heroes of my profession being honored with such recognition. Now, I’m no hero, but over the course of my paperboy-to-publisher career in newspapers, I’ve seen and experienced a thing or two. I understand what comes with the job of reporting the facts to the best of one’s ability, and the occasional threat that comes with it.

There’s an old sentiment among journalists: If your reporting offends both sides, you’re doing your job; it means your reporting is balanced and hard-hitting, as it should be.

But that’s changing. Now, one side despises good reporting more than all other “sides” combined. A vocal minority now condemns good journalism, seemingly because it doesn’t fit neatly into their world perspective. They’re living in an alternative media reality that keeps them comfortably entrenched in misinformation.

Time magazine tagged it as a “war on truth” and indeed it is. Thanks to men like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a significant part of America has been dumbed down, to the point in which our democratic processes are now under threat.

Thankfully, however, the world still has truth-seekers like Jamal Khashoggi, who gave his life for his journalistic standards; Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, reporters who have been jailed for reporting on a mass execution in Burma; Maria Ressa, who has been relentless as a powerful voice of truth in Southeast Asia and who now faces trumped-up charges and possible jail time in the Philippines; and the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, a newspaper that fell victim to a mass shooting and yet still put out a paper the next day.

Those are today’s heroes of this war against truth. They stand tall among us, as martyrs for what is right about our flawed but honorable profession.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

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