Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
THURSDAY, JULY 12 -18, 2018 • Page 5
Don't kill, hate the messengers
It’s been more than two weeks
since yet another mass shooting in
America has resulted in death and
despair.
This time it was a newsroom in
Annapolis, Md„ where five victims,
four editors and a sales assistant
were gunned down in late June by an
shooter who police say held a vendetta
against the newspaper after it covered
his conviction on stalking charges.
I’ve tried to get this tragedy out of
my head, but it’s been difficult.
I’ve spent almost all of my
professional career in newsrooms
around this country—Texas,
Michigan, Kansas and Illinois and
consider individuals such as the
individuals at the Capital Gazette
newspaper in Annapolis as colleagues
even though we’ve never met. We’ve
dedicated ourselves to the tedious and
often thankless job of keeping our
communities informed about what is
transpiring around them by covering
news stories that we deem pertinent.
Newsrooms long have been places
of conflict. Usually a good many of a
Gale Horton Gay
fastgale@hotmail.com
newspapers’ readers are supportive
of the papers efforts, while others are
not. Whether it’s coverage of politics,
crime, business, sports and sometimes
even lifestyle, folks often blame
reporters and editors for simply doing
their job—covering news, sharing
information and offering opinions.
Politicians and government leaders
often lambast the press for detailing
when they are not living up to their
promises and responsibilities. It’s
not uncommon for some business
people to become enraged when we
reveal the real winners and losers
of deals that they sugarcoat in
glowing terms. Coverage of matters
involving corruption frequently
bring complaints by those connected
to it. People who commit crimes
of violence, fraud, theft and other
unsavory acts have been known to
question why we put “their personal
business” on the pages of our papers.
Folks from many different
education levels, backgrounds,
professions, ages, etc. take exception
about our reporting of practically
everything if they feel it presents them
in an unfavorable light. Sometimes
people are upset because we don’t
print enough (or exactly what they
want us to print) about them or their
family or business or charity.
We get angry phone calls, angry
letters and emails and, occasionally,
an angry individual in our lobby
demanding to see a reporter, editor
or publisher about something they
consider unfair. They claim they are
misquoted but that’s rarely true. They
claim we’ve been misrepresented
when we’ve often gone overboard
to present information from all
sides. They claim we haven’t told the
whole story but they’ve often refused
to grant interviews and provide
information that we’ve requested to
do so.
And the current occupant of the
White House has certainly added fuel
to the fire blaming the Fourth Estate
for a broad range of ills including
“fake news” and bias, while using
the media to continually advance his
agenda.
Journalists and the support staff
that make the delivery of news on an
ongoing basis possible deserve respect
for their efforts and now, it seems,
safety needs to be of greater priority
for those working in this industry.
The Capital Gazette staffers who
lost their lives in the shooting—Rob
Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi
Winter, Rebecca Smith and John
McNamara—should be remembered
for their commitment to carrying
on the tradition of a free press and
wanting to make their community
a better place through access to
information.
How about a real salute?
“It was a tremendous day, and to a
large extent because of what I witnessed,
we may do something like that on July
4th in Washington down Pennsylvania
Avenue,” President Donald J. Trump said.
“We’re going to have to try to top it, but
we have a lot of planes going over and a
lot of military might, and it was really a
beautiful thing to see, and representatives
from different wars and different
uniforms.”
Our allies-the people of France-have
been celebrating their own national
holiday, and Independence Day of
sorts, Bastille Day, since 1789. Their
holiday commemorates a critical day in
the history of the French Revolution.
And on July 14th, since 1880, a part of
that celebration has included a military
parade, along the Champs Elysee in
Paris. Donald and Melania Trump
attended the parade and other Bastille
Day festivities as part of a state visit with
French President Emmanuel Macron
and his wife last year.
Trump liked what he saw, and
almost immediately upon return asked
the Pentagon to get cracking on a
similar rockets, tanks and gun show in
New York or Washington, D.C. for this
year’s Fourth of July, or another national
holiday. He asked again in September
of last year, and yet again in February of
2018, despite advice to the contrary from
‘One Man's
Opinion 9
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
his senior White House staff and
others; the president has continued to
make the push.
A few miles down Pennsylvania
Avenue is one of two Armed
Forces Retirement Homes (AFRH),
administratively attached and funded
through our executive branch. Two
retirement communities in D.C. and
Gulfport, Miss., are open to eligible
veterans from all branches of service,
and have been in operation since 1834.
Significant draw-downs in all service
branches, as the result of automatic
sequestration budget cuts, have caused a
significant projected hole in the budgets
at both retirement homes—as a primary
source of their funding is a very modest
payroll deduction from all active duty
military personnel. The bulk of residents
are in their 70s and 80s, and were
active-duty military during the Korean
and Vietnam conflicts—most live on
fixed incomes. To make up the budget
shortfall, rents are in many cases being
more than doubled during this summer,
and effectively forcing many of these
retirees out of the home where they had
planned to spend the rest of their lives.
The projected budget shortfall, slightly
in excess of $20 million this year, is
approximately equal to the estimated costs
of the president’s suggested parade to
celebrate and salute our nation’s veterans,
as well as potentially America’s birthday.
Just prior to Memorial Day this year,
the U.S. Senate passed the V.A. Mission
Act (sponsored by U.S. Senator Johnny
Isakson, R-GA, who chairs the Veteran
Services Committee) to expand and
provide improved access to health care
for American veterans, frequently facing
extensive delays or bureaucratic lapses in
the delivery of their health care to seek
treatment outside of the V.A. medical
system. The U.S. House has not yet taken
up the bill.
“Being a great president has to do with
a lot of things, but one of them is being a
great cheerleader for the country,” Trump
told The Washington Post. “And we’re
going to show the people as we build up
our military, we’re going to display our
military.”
Traditional centerpieces of Fourth of
July celebrations in Washington, D.C. are
typically massive fireworks displays and
a concert on the National Mall. There are
other existing parades in Washington.,
which contain military elements, though
those are typically limited to companies
of enlisted personnel marching on foot,
performing in a service band or riding on
horseback.
The AFRH needs some attention
and funding assistance to keep several
hundred aged veterans from becoming
homeless. The Veterans Mission Act needs
funding and some of that Trump arm-
twisting and deal making, starting with
the U.S. House.
Our veterans deserve the attention
and support which Trump promised
throughout his campaign, and not empty
symbols, pomp, circumstance or parade
review stands. And as for a capstone
celebration of America’s birthday, the
Fourth of July—it’s really about much
more than who has the biggest rockets.
Isn’t it Mr. President?
Happy Fourth of July holiday and
weekend!
Bill Crane also serves as a political
analyst and commentator for Channel 2 s
Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk 750
and now 95.5 PM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press and
Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native
and business owner, living in Scottdale. You
can reach him or comment on a column at
bill.csicrane@gmail.com.