The best and most trustworthy news is presented by local journalists–the same people we see and interact with all around town–at churches, schools, events (concerts, festivals, etc.), and our own neighborhoods.
Local journalists have a lot to lose if they present an obviously-biased story with sketchy facts and timelines, either in print media or on the radio and television stations. Their job depends on the good-will of local merchants and private individuals who donate sponsorship money or who buy ads. If they offend too many of the locals with obviously-biased stories and skewed facts, they will lose their sponsors and endanger the survival of their media platform and their own jobs.
So they are careful not to do any of the condescending smirking or snickering, or use a superior voice tone, or write in hyperbole, because they will be called out for it by their neighbors.
At the same time, they must present a complete and truthful story with a verifiable set of facts, or they will be publicly challenged (letters to the editor, citizen viewpoint presented on TV, call-in radio shows, public protests, etc.) by people in their community who are knowledgeable about the facts.
Small cities like ours have a diverse group of citizens. This means that the local journalists have to tell the stories in ways that don’t favor a specific political party, economic viewpoint, age, financial status, color, sex, religion, or race. This makes for a much more balanced news story that covers more of the facts and issues. Also, many of the local journalists will point out ways that the story affects locals, if it does.
An example would be the recent stories about the farmer’s situation with the tariffs. We have seen quite a few stories on local television and in the local papers that include lengthy interviews with real farmers who are active leaders of various local and state farmers" organizations. If we listen only to the national news, we would assume that the farmers are all going to starve while wealthy President Trump dilly-dallies with prostitutes. But the local farmers’ groups seem to have less gloomy view of what’s happening, and point out that there are plenty of countries that want to buy their produce. They actually seem upbeat about what’s happening, and don’t seem to think they’re going to need the assistance package offered by the President. (This morning, there was a story about a local farmer with soybeans that are as tall as he is! Soybeans! Wow! And just yesterday I was out driving with a friend and pointed out a field of giant soybeans!)
I’m guessing that farmers in other parts of the country that have been devastated by flooding and other disasters might have a different POV–again the value of listening to local news.
