It’s only been a few weeks since I’ve taken on my new role as the editor of the Cranston Herald, and I’ve been enjoying it for the most part.

Sure, the hours aren’t the best and the pay could be better but finally having a chance to use the degree I worked so hard to earn has been great. I’ve been given a chance to be a voice for a city of over 82,000 people. However, being that voice can quickly become daunting.

So many people don’t seem to understand the point of journalism. People come to me with their personal stories and believe it is my job to validate them. They come to me with a complaint and expect me to shout their woes from the rooftop for them. As fun as doing that may be, it isn’t my job.

As a journalist I am tasked not just with hearing the opinions and perspectives of the people, but also researching those opinions and hearing the opposing side. A task that rarely comes with appreciation. It seems people often don’t like it when they are asked for evidence of their claims.

They don’t appreciate when others have a different point of view than they do. If someone comes to me saying the sky is green and I ask them to prove it, suddenly I’m the unreasonable one. There are always two sides to a story and while the truth is often met in the middle ground, there are a lot of times in which a person’s opinions just can’t stand up to scrutiny.

I don’t mean to say that a person’s opinions, feelings, and experiences are not valid. It’s just that wanting something doesn’t always mean you should get it. There are times that while a person is perfectly reasonable for wanting something, getting what they want takes things from others. Who then decides which party is more deserving of consideration at times like that?

Thankfully, it’s not me. My job as a journalist is simply to ask the right questions and report any truths I find as such. It is the job of the people to decide what should be done. It is the job of their elected officials to seek justice when deserved. Just like it is those elected officials’ jobs to decide when it is not deserved.

This is not the first time in the world of journalism I’ve been confronted with anger over not saying what a subject wanted me to say. I’ve been accused of misquoting people, or leaving out “facts.” Thankfully, I don’t mind being wrong. Honestly, I even appreciate being shown my mistakes. I just ask for evidence of those mistakes. I mean, how else would I grow as a writer?

I go out of my way to have a tape recorder running anytime I do an interview. I ask follow up questions and seek the most complete version of the truth that I can. I take time outside of interviews and writing to research topics and see how other journalists have covered similar issues in the past. On occasion I even reach out to my old professors, who I still look to even now as some of the best journalists I’ve ever met, and I ask them what they think of the situation.

However, sometimes people just can’t admit they’re wrong. It’s amazing how often someone says that I lied, misquoted or in some other way didn’t do my job. It is almost as amazing that these claims are rarely followed up with evidence of my mistake, or an understanding of why it was justified journalistically.

How dare I ask for proof. How dare my unbiased story without any stake in, or opinion of, the outcome not say what the complainant wanted. It’s my job to print the people’s opinions, right? Wrong.

My job is to try and find the truth. Televised news has made people forget this. A 24 hour news cycle has made journalism into a joke in so many places. The most popular journalistic programs will choose to spend hours reporting lunacy and emotionally validating content rather than the, often boring, truth. A fact that has made being a good journalist much harder.

Yet here I am, proudly standing at the helm of a newspaper. It may not be the world I thought I’d end up in 12 years ago when I went back to college, but I can’t say I’m not happy to see it happen. I have a long way to go, but I hope Cranston will appreciate the work I am doing and help me to become better at it.

I’m here for you Cranston. Come to me with your worries, fears and expectations and I shall do my best to honor that responsibility. Those wishing to contact me with their own story can email me anytime.

My contact informaiton can be found online at cranstononline.com. If for anyreason that isn’t enough then I’ll make it even easier. email: edk@rhodybeat.com phone: (401) 732-3100