From the editor’s desk: We are not Facebook & we will not pick a side

In our politically tumultuous times, it has become harder than ever to do my job.

I say this not to illicit sympathy, but rather because, as the population is bombarded with bias information from the right and the left – all calling itself “news” – it seems important to remind people what it is we’re doing on NRI NOW.

We are local. We are not political. We cover Northern Rhode Island’s crime, human interest, government, schools and more.

We are forever aware of the importance of keeping any opinions we might have out of that news. I personally try not to even form opinions about some local issues out of fear that it might seep into my reporting.

In opinion pieces – such as letters to the editor – you will sometimes see readers discuss their take on local and national political issues. These pieces are clearly marked as opinion, are open to everyone in terms of submissions, and do not influence the content of our regular reporting. We’ll also let you know what your state legislators are doing by publishing press releases on their latest bill or appointment. We try to process these as level-handedly as possible and distribute such coverage fairly.

People may be quoted while expressing opinions in our news coverage. These quotes should not be attributed to us, but to them, as we utilize their words to cover all sides of a given issue. And if one article seems to slant one way, there will nearly always be a follow up piece explaining the other side of a topic to follow.

We are not Facebook. We, like others, utilize the social media platform to bring local news to people’s attention. A necessary evil, Facebook and other social media allows us to reach new readers and bring local coverage to a space where people are already scrolling.

To our regular readers, it may seem strange that I feel the need to explain this. Newsletter subscribers, daily visitors and internet-savvy folks can probably stop here, and go ahead and skip the next few paragraphs (and should also feel pretty good about themselves!)

On several recent occasions, it seems a number of our regular contacts – meaning local officials who shall go unnamed –have spent entirely too much time arguing with others, trolling social media and getting their “news” from a feed of whatever pops up. We get it – scrolling is now the premiere American pastime, and while we wouldn’t call it relaxing, it certainly is easy.

It can also be enraging. There really is no such thing as “winning” an argument on social media, but parties will nonetheless go back and forth for hours, watching for validating “likes” as confirmation they have dominated in the court of public opinion. Inevitably, things get ugly, both parties look bad – or at least highly unprofessional – and no one changes their mind.

After a session or two of such battling of wits, it’s easy to see how a one might lose their perspective. If one perceives an interaction as confirmation that most of the public is on their side, they may become even more embroiled in that opinion. If, on the other hand, they are insulted and outnumbered, they may walk away with embarrassment and a brand new persecution complex.

And there’s another drawback: Hours of uselessly trying to prove a point, it seems, can really destroy an attention span. The world becomes a dark place, and legitimate news is only read either in hopes of more confirmation, or in search of proof that everyone really is against you – and that maybe “the media” is to blame. The ability to discern the difference between concrete information and supposed facts listed off as evidence for one side of an argument completely disappears. The “reader” scrolls through news stories at a furious pace, and if coverage touches upon anything also mentioned by their perceived opponents… well, you can probably see where I’m going here.

More and more frequently, people will skim through articles, mentally mashing together that actual news with whatever comment section on the subject they’ve read most recently – and then attribute that entire conversation to us. The unfocused thought process goes something like this:

Tom is wrong in his interpretation of the First Amendment… NRI NOW wrote a story that mentioned the First Amendment and touched on a similar point as Tom… The writers at NRI NOW believe what Tom believes and are wrong.

These days, some topics are so heated that every time we write about them we’re guaranteed to get blowback and accusations of bias, often from both sides. Gun control and the turf field in Burrillville come to mind as immediate examples.

While I won’t claim we don’t care about these issues, there’s a big difference between us and “Tom.” With the exception of editorials like this one, we are literally never trying to make a point. There isn’t a “point” – to the best of our ability, just factual information and a platform for local happenings. And there are no winners or losers, just consistent articles about your friends, neighbors and yes, community issues that sometimes, are somewhat controversial.

We are not Facebook, or any other social media platform, where you’ll find endless vitriol in the pursuit of nothing positioned beside cute videos of puppies and your ex-coworker’s baby. Our pursuit is simple: to keep you informed about your community as accurately and unbiasedly as we know how.

No matter how important you feel your opinion on a particular subject might be, we will never take your side. But don’t worry, we won’t take the other side either, instead treading through a sea of opinion in that endless pursuit of neutral ground.

Agenda-free news is becoming a lost art, so you may have slow down, stop scrolling or crafting your next scathing response, and actually read it to recognize it.

We are and will remain committed to it.

Your publisher, editor and unrelenting newshound,

Sandy Hall