The Christmas editorial – a staple of local journalism of parallel importance in the paper and web pages as annual seniors’ bake sales, local sports champions, political shenanigans in town halls and local weather reports.
It’s the annual editorial that shines a bright light on the wonders of hope and joy, peace and goodwill. It’s the end of the year write-up to lift spirits, to encourage readers to stand up, dust themselves off and love each other.
You know, “Good will to all, and to all a …” Nope.
It’s now more difficult than ever to profess to be speaking for “all.” Even if the sentiment is there, some will see the medium as being biased, or feel an implied tone that de-rails legitimate wishes. Others will create or distribute misinformation to form new narratives and turn opinion to truth. And for others ... well, some people simply like to argue.
Writing these editorials and all content, local journalists use their best knowledge of the communities they serve, of the communities they call home. They offer honest and transparent content they hope will hit a mark. At the very least, there is the hope it will initiate some kind of thought, no matter how fleeting. We do this because for years, decades, generations, the local media has had its sights trained on the local region. Of course, an editorial writer can never profess to know it all, to offer better solutions than all others … but if there is a pulse in a community, a local journalist will find it and then amplify its beating echoes to others.
It's a privilege to be able to write in these pages – but that doesn’t make the writers privileged. The writers of local media are no different than other residents; they don’t see things more clearly, or understand things better – they simply try to see things plainly and explain that to the readers to create a dialogue.
This might seem like a simple explanation – and an explanation, quite honestly, to something that has taken a bit of a detour from what we all thought was going to be a Christmas editorial – but it’s an important explanation.
We are all free to have our opinions, our thoughts of how the world around us is being shaped, and it is vital that those opinions continue to be heard and expressed. No one person, no single written document is going to stand in the way of those freedoms. But it is how we choose to express those opinions and thoughts that really matter.
A Christmas editorial isn’t meant to change everyone’s way of thinking, it’s not meant to profess a message that eclipses common thought or common sense – it’s simply another attempt – one this time adorned with holiday decorations and pretty bows – to bring people together, to show that despite our many differences, we can still offer that honest, basic message of goodwill to all.
