The morning newspaper has always been a staple in my life. From childhood to this morning’s paper, it’s been one of the few rituals I’ve religiously followed. Oftentimes I’m up before dawn making my way to the rolled up bit of news that’s been left at our house. When traveling, which I do often, I always grab a local paper to get the feel of that community. A newspaper, in my opinion, represents the community’s pulse, good or bad. Want to know if a community is progressive or stuck in yesterday? Grab a local paper.

In my childhood home, we grew up reading the newspaper, Mom, Dad, my two sisters. We all took turns reading both the morning and evening editions of the two dailies in Birmingham. I started out in sports and cartoons, progressed to news, and then became particularly fond of features and opinion pages. I wrote for both my high school and college newspapers and then professionally for newspapers and magazines for many years. I was and am interested in information that prods thinking and connects dots. Don’t try and tell me what to think, please. I resent it.

My childhood newspapers were neither progressive nor truthful. With civil unrest raging a few city blocks away in downtown Birmingham, the local papers ignored it.

They pretended the grand old southern way was the way of the world. As an old friend of mine often says about those days, “Good men and women remained silent.”

Today the local paper where I live wears its bias on the editorial/opinion pages. From mid-August to mid-October I counted 24 negative cartoon images denigrating the current President of the United States. Twenty-four and these are just the ones I saw when I was in town. (I was out of town over half the time). Now, take into consideration the paper does not run its own cartoons. It has to scour the country for these negative images. Somehow they managed to come up with 24 of them oftentimes several days in a row.

Okay, I get it that they don’t agree with or think the guy is a good President. But community leadership brings a responsibility of fairness.

Attack the man’s policies with truth and fact and insist that your letter writers do the same. Otherwise I dismiss it as bias. Your personal bias should never get in the way of your community responsibility.

[Bias: To influence somebody or something unfairly or in a biased way. An unfair preference for or dislike of something.]

Admittedly, the newspaper’s politics, business and life philosophies, I very seldom agree with. I’m sure many people don’t agree with me. That’s what makes us a great country. We can disagree civilly. Still we ALL, regardless of beliefs, want fairness.

When you allow letter writers to call the President, “a dictator in chief,” or write things like:

“catering to his socialist and ethnic base,”

“…more low class than ever,”

“…most corrupt administration ever known”

“…laws are no impediment to Barack Obama,”

“Obama has become the most economically destructive president in our history,”

“…Why have he and his communist cohorts…”

“Obama’s reason is affiliated with treason,” and

“audacity of criminal activity in this Obama society,”

you lose your own credibility. When you continue to do that everyday, you cast a negative pall on your own community. You ferment divisiveness. Business stays away. You become “talk radio” in print. Blah, Blah, Blah, us vs. them, name calling, bias, little to no diversity on the staff or in its thinking, and very little of value in terms of shedding new light on any subject. All of this paints a picture of our community for visitors and potential residents or businesses to read.

During the last election cycle the editorial page adopted a policy of no negative letters in support or against any political candidate. “…Keep your letter positive,” they wrote. “And please don’t insult our intelligence by attempting to make us believe your opponent is a lowlife unworthy of existence… We want to hear why you think Candidate A is an upright citizen. We’re less interested in why you think candidate B is a creep.” Somebody at the paper didn’t get the memo.

I’ve always been leery of newspapers with no voices from people of color and no different political, business or philosophical voices. The local paper does carry one black opinion writer whose opinions mirror those of the editorial page.

For example, on August 1, 2014, in the piece titled Black Political Clout hasn’t done much for blacks he wrote, “In my opinion there appear to be no standards of performance low enough for blacks to lose their loyalty to their black political representatives.” I wonder if the same could be said for whites?

There’s more. President Obama negative editorial cartoons appeared in the following editions of the paper on these days:

8/9, 8/ 16, 8/17, 8/18, 8/19, 8/23, 8/ 27, 8/28,

9/8, 9/15, 9/20, 9/22, 9/23, 9/26, 9/27,

10/1 10/8, 10/2, 10/4 10/22, and

11/17, 11/19, 11/20, 11/21.

I’m sure I missed some; remember, I was out of town half the time.

On August 5, I wrote a friendly, confidential e-mail to the Publisher who I thought I had a community/civic relationship with, expressing my views. It addressed community, leadership, enlightenment, a lack of diversity, the stagnation of economic development when you freeze out whole segments of your population and the role a newspaper plays in all of the above.

I ended by thanking him for listening and welcomed a friendly discussion about these issues. I’m still waiting to hear back. “Good men and women remained silent.” 

I wake up on full go! Ready for the day’s adventure. Six decades into my existence, I still hold on to that childlike anticipation of what adventures a given day might bring. I’ve been lucky like that. Choosing professions that are fun to do on a daily basis and careers I’d do for free and have.

My wife has always been astonished that I wake up ready to talk, walk, go bike riding, and literally express idea after idea that somehow crept into my head while I’m supposed to be sleeping. Life has always been amazing to me and still is.

But then, like in the movies, things come to a screeeeching….. halt…..when I feed my addiction for reading the morning newspaper. Lord!!! What a come down!

Penn State scandal holds lessons for adults.

Local graduate killed in Afghanistan!

Man charged in fatal shooting.

And that’s just page one!

Growing up in a home where we all, Dad, Mom, and us three children religiously read the newspaper, it is a habit I have not shaken but admittedly I have gotten less dedicated to it. It’s ugly and getting uglier, a daily assault on feeling good, common sense and a day-by-day dosage of business and political propaganda. Have I mistakenly subscribed to The Enquirer?

Man injured in Nov 3 wreck dies.

6 exposed to chemicals used for meth lab in car

Dear Abby: Bride to be is feeling blue because fiancé hates orange.

Why that corporate cash pile isn’t so impressive

And take citizen journalists. Please! Never having had a journalism class in their lives but through the miracle of the Internet and the mask of anonymity, these “writers” can spit venom and simplistic solutions at very complex situations. You disagree and you’re Un-American.

They want to take the country back. From whom? Anyway, whatever happened to those WWJD (What Would Jesus do) bracelets?

Sports? I grew up on the sports pages. Relished them. Before ESPN, newspapers were the major information source. Newspapers distinguished themselves with investigatory facts and features you couldn’t get anywhere else. Today professional ball is about contracts, lockouts and holdouts. Major college ball with its own scandals, continues to hide behind the cloak of amateurism.

Astros sold: Will move to American League in 2013

NBA owners hold conference call

Penn State Trustees hire law firm in abuse scandal.

Okay enough already! The sun is shining. It’s a new day! Forget the Oh woe is me, Divisiveness and Greed, Watch out for Iran, Drill Baby Drill, nature of today’s newspapers and media.

I’ve got positive things to do; the normal work chores of reading or writing a script, a story, prepping for an audition or television role, collaborating with a business client on a marketing project, or, assisting my alma maters with a fundraising idea.

There’s also time to enjoy my wife, call my Dad, ride my bike, call Manuel, Michael O, or Ford for a good gut-wrenching laugh. After all it’s a beautiful day and I don’t have to read the newspaper again until tomorrow morning.