In the eye of the beholder (or reader)

I saw a lot in my 40 years as a journalist, 30 of which I served as editors of small town newspapers, in Gardena, Chino/Chino Hills and Beaumont/Banning.

I once did an editorial cartoon, which I meant as a satire on the media's obsession with celebrity news. I ran this just after Paris Hilton was sent to jail. I ran a photo of Saddam Husein, Paris Hilton and bin Laden. The caption read: Two down, one to go. I got a couple of letters accusing me of calling Paris Hilton a terrorist.

I thought I was a pretty conservative newspaper editor, but I tried ...as best I could to keep my opions and my ideology on the editorial and op-ed pages. However, when speaking before groups, I was usually introduced as a left wing liberal, and I run into a lot of people today who read my conservative views on Facebook and elswhere who say they had no idea I was a conservative when I worked at the Record Gazette newspaper or they ask me when did I become a conservative. Was it after I left the paper?

I believe that all thinking people develop a bias, but it is the job of journalists to keep that bias on the editorial and opinion pages. However, the vast, vast majority of people I knew in journalism were very liberal individuals, but in my earlier career, I saw much less of that liberalism show up in their news judgment than I see today. There are smart and critical thinkers who are conservative and smart and critical thinkers who are liberal. They both need to keep their ideology on the back burner when making news decisions, not in just in the way they cover the news, but in picking which news stories to cover. News bias is just as often reflected in what is and what is not covered than in the often slanted coverage of the actual news stories.

In my career as a small town community newspaper editor, I saw excellent political leaders from different ideologies.

The best California State Legislators I remember were Assemblyman Paul T. Bannai (Republican from Gardena), State Senator Ruben S. Ayala (Democrat from Chino) and Assemblyman and later State Senator Jim Brulte (Republican who served both the Chino area when I was there and the Banning/Beaumont area when I came here).

Among city council members, the best I recall was Mayor Ed Russ (a Republican from Gardena), Councilman Mas Fukai (a Democrat from Gardena), Mayor Larry Walker (a Democrat from Chino), Mayor Fred Aguiar (a Republican from Chino), Councilwoman Sue Palmer (a Democrat from Banning) and Jeff Fox (a Republican from Beaumont).

The best county supervisor I ever knew was Kenneth Hahn (a Democrat from Gardena in Los Angeles County). A real mixed bag, but all critical thinkers and good representatives of the people they served in public office.