We are not the enemy.
It’s shocking that in this country, built on the foundation of a free press, we would ever have to say that. But we live in shocking times. And we are under attack – from our president.
He has called us “the enemy of the American people.” He disparages our work as “fake news.”
At his rallies, he verbally abuses us. Not surprisingly, some of his supporters have taken it to the next step, threatening violence.
Last week, he tweeted about the press: “They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”
Enough. This isn’t OK.
We can’t sit here and be silent. The notion that we are the enemy fomenting division domestically and abroad is absurd. When someone says something that wrong, that egregious, we can’t just let it go – especially when that person is the president.
Journalists are trying to do a job. We’re not trying to tear down our nation. We’re trying to strengthen it. For we believe in the foundational premise behind the First Amendment – that our nation is stronger if its people are informed.
That’s just as true when talking about the local city council and school board as it is when discussing national and international policymaking and politics.
We sincerely believe that most of you understand that – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading our newspapers and websites. For that, we are deeply grateful.
You understand that we express our opinions on the editorial pages, but the reporters whose articles appear in the rest of the newspaper seek to present their work without bias.
You understand that there’s a qualitative difference between the reporting of mainstream journalists and the unchecked information – and disinformation – that flows alongside our work on Facebook and Twitter.
And we, here in the Bay Area, the center of the world’s tech industry, understand, better than most, the dangers uncorroborated, manipulated social media present to our national debate and our elections.
We’ve repeatedly called on tech leaders to clean up their act, and we’ve called on the president to take seriously the very real threats to our democracy.
We wish the president could focus on that, rather than conflating social media and professional journalists to insinuate that somehow we’re all the same.
Yes, we make mistakes. We’re human. But we try to correct our errors as quickly as possible. And we’re certainly not purveyors of made-up information.
This week, we, and scores of other news organizations across the country, at the urging of the Boston Globe editorial page, are speaking up – defending the integrity of our journalists against the incessant onslaught from the president.
It’s a remarkable, unprecedented moment. Frankly, it’s scary. We’re afraid, for our personal safety and for the future of our country. These attacks on the press are an attack on our nation’s foundation.
And we’re angry. Angry that we work so hard to carry out the mission our Founding Fathers envisioned, to provide the free flow of information so critical to a well-functioning democracy, only to be demonized by our president for doing our jobs.
Today, we ask readers to keep supporting us. And, whatever your political leanings or feelings about the president’s policies, recognize that the press has an important role to play in our nation.
We take it very seriously. We wish Trump did, too.
— The Mercury News
