Our first editorial, Introducing Stockbridge Updates, ran August 6, 2020. It said the towns and villages in South Berkshire (18 of them) are the last examples of pure democratic rule. “That means we the people run the towns. However, residents do not always know about all the issues under consideration. Voters do not always have all the facts when it comes time to vote. Stockbridge Updates is dedicated to bringing you the information you need. To inform without opinion or pressure and give you the information you need to make your own decisions.” The second editorial reported a kerfuffle. There was criticism of SU reporting.
“One Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) member objected to Professor Coote’s survey results and called the Stockbridge Updates editorial fiction.”
However, three days later, on August 9, Richard Seltzer, President of SBA, agreed that the amount of Eurasian Milfoil found in 2020 was so low that it did not constitute a problem.
The editorial went on, “It is welcome that all are now dealing with the same facts, can ask the right questions, and based on the best answers, work in concert to protect and preserve our lake.”
Five brief years ago, we wanted facts, and having received them, we wanted to work together on the problem. SU helped by reporting the facts; acknowledging that there is a place for opinion, posting opinions even if critical of SU, and keeping fact and opinion separate.
Five years later, we live in difficult times. There is more misinformation and there are more sources for it. There are more folks who don’t know what to believe, and more who want to cling to what they believe even if seemingly proven false. It is a time when the big news organizations are under assault and maybe, just maybe, hyper-local newspapers like SU will become more important. We will do our best in this unique and difficult time to do as we wanted to do from the first issue: equip our readers to be effective citizens in a democracy.
Thomas Jefferson said. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Why would Jefferson choose the press? As we said in our first editorial, it can only be government of, by, and for the people when the people know what’s going on.
Carole Owens
Executive Editor
