COLUMN: Some words from the heart
It didn't feel appropriate for me to write a weekly news recap. So if you'll indulge me, I have a few words that I feel need sharing.
Reporter’s Note: I had fully prepared to do a weekly news recap, highlighting a pair of stories from the week that was in North Carolina politics and some newsworthy items to watch for in the week ahead. But all that felt much smaller than what I actually wanted to share.
So for the second time since 2017, I come to you with a column. I hope you’ll indulge me.
Being a reporter requires us to be honest with you, our readers.
You trust us to give it to you straight, to tell you the things you may or may not like to hear and to admit to any mistakes as they occur.
But in order to be honest with readers, we reporters must first be honest with ourselves.
On a late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, I found myself in tears. Here’s why…
I began covering politics in early 2016. As I attended political rallies and spoke with voters of all ideological bents, I remember thinking at the time just how uniquely contentious the election cycle felt.
But in the more than eight years since, the tone of political debate in this country has sadly worsened. And Saturday evening marked a new low: an attempted assassination of a former president and current presidential candidate. Political violence is inexcusable. No matter your party, profession or ideology, it must be condemned.
For elected officials, news outlets and the general public, there’s few incentives these days to appeal to peoples’ better angels. So, who’s to blame for us reaching this latest low in our discourse? Everybody.
It’s on political leaders to tone down the heated rhetoric.
It’s on the press to be more responsible with what it amplifies and how it amplifies it.
But above all else, it’s on everyday Americans not to give in to their tribalistic instincts. That means condemning bad behavior from within, expressing disagreements without being disagreeable and making deliberate efforts not to click and share the sensationalistic headlines that reenforce existing worldviews.
We won’t always get it right, but we must collectively do better because the status quo isn’t sustainable.
Some reporters are very transparent with their personal lives. I don’t count myself among them. Why not? Because I’ve encountered threats— ones that pale in comparison to others but still leave me concerned for the safety and wellbeing of loved ones.
And like many others, it’s this level of animosity that makes me frightened of any prospect of having children and sad for all the parents who will have to someday explain to their kids why they were unable to leave the world a better place than they found it.
Politics has always been divisive; Americans have always been opinionated; and journalists are by their very nature confrontational. That’s not going to change. But here’s what must in the 114 days between now and Election Day: Our level of basic decency.