Do you know people who say this all the time: “There’s nothing but bad news in the paper!” And, “We should have nothing but good news!”

    I often invite folks to come to the paper and pick any issues to examine, so that they can see just how inaccurate both those observations are. I’ve never had anyone take me up on it. Those remarks are a matter of perception rather than fact, anyway. Here’s an example.

    At the city council meeting Tuesday, Ward 1 Councilman Dr. George Thomas told everyone there, and everyone watching on television, as well as everyone watching when the meeting was repeated on television, about a big fight at Meridian High School involving a bunch of students, and several of them were arrested. He said he wished news about a lot more students — who had been recognized for academic excellence — had been the top news story on our front page, like the fight was.

    Well, there’s nothing wrong with the way he wishes things were, that’s his opinion. His perception was that what he considered to be negative news was given a more prominent placement in the newspaper than it was, and while publicly lamenting all this he certainly brought more attention to the fight, and told the public we did something we did not do.

    We referred to the story about the big fight at the high school from our front page on Sept. 29, because the article ran on page 2 that day.

    Articles we DID publish on the front page of that issue included a story and photograph about the Meridian Public School District’s Study Buddy program providing all the third-graders at Oakland Heights Elementary School with copies of  E.B. White’s book “Charlotte’s Web.” We also had a story on two burglary suspects being caught, and a story on longtime WTOK-TV anchorman John Johnson stepping down from that post.

    Our top story on the front that day was about the Meridian Police Department looking for two suspects in a credit card/check fraud case. We ran a picture of them from a surveillance camera, too.

    The only people who should see that story as negative are the suspects, because now the police, working with the media, have gotten information to the public, which is more likely to bring them some tips as to who these bozos are, so they can catch them.

     The most positive thing of all, even when we consider news coverage on the local level, seems to be overlooked by all the positive-pushers out there, and that is that we still live in a nation that allows a free and independent press. Do you know who doesn’t have that? Most people on this planet. It’s a rare and precious thing, and it’s been on the decline world-wide for the past eight years.

    The United States, Canada, Greenland, the UK, most of the other countries in Western Europe, Australia and Japan have a free press. A few other places can make that claim, but not many. The flow of information in other countries is partially or totally controlled by their governments, or as is the case in Mexico, criminals the government can’t control.

    Once upon a time all of North America was considered a place with a free press, but not anymore. In Mexico newspapers have implemented self censorship because so many journalists have been murdered down there for reporting on criminal groups.

    The most recent example of this, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, is the death of Maria Elizabeth Macias Castro, age 39. Her decapitated body was found Sept. 24 on a road near Nuevo Laredo with a message that explained the journalist was killed for writing on social media web sites using a pseudonym to get the truth out. Headphones and a keyboard were placed next to the head. Now, I know that sounds negative, but I want to be clear that many professional journalists in Mexico have resorted to reporting that way because crime groups are terrorizing local press outlets throughout the country.

    Of course I know nothing could EVER deteriorate to that point here in the United States of America, not as long as we’re all taking a ride on the Positive Train together, but whether a news story is positive, negative, good or bad, is all subjective.

    If you only want to read what you consider to be good news, that’s your privilege. If you only want what you consider to be good news to be reported to everyone else, you’re just a positive person with a negative attitude. There’s a lot of that going around in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia right now. And don’t forget Mexico!

    Steve Gillespie is managing editor at The Meridian Star. Email him at sgillespie@

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