Truth ain't easy

In this time of questioning what quality, honest journalism really looks like, I feel compelled to share a recent email I sent to our Loudoun Now team. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by reporters, editors and photojournalists who know that truth isn’t simple, it isn’t easy to find, it’s even harder to communicate, and it often means upsetting people on both sides of an issue, but they exhaustively search it out anyway. I’ve been fortunate to work at seven newspapers in four states, from the Midwest to the West Coast to the East Coast, and I’ve admired all but one (maybe two) journalists I’ve worked with. They’re not in it for a paycheck. (Those who know our pay and hours think we’re masochists and wonder how we maintain marriages and friendships.) They’re in it because they care about improving their little corner of the world. So, pretty please, find a source of news that you trust to tell the truth, even when it’s hard to hear, and find a way to support it and make sure it stays around.

OK, so that email I mentioned :) …

Hey LN team,

I met [a community member] this weekend who cried (really she did) when she told me how Jan’s article on her last summer was the first news article that has ever accurately captured her story. We have such a good team. I hear things like this every week about each of our reporters. It’s a good reminder of why we're here. We’re illustrating the importance of community journalism, and reverence for the first amendment, one carefully crafted article at a time.