“Trump aides on Russia: Who cares?” was the headline on page one of Monday’s edition of the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. I had already watched the several interviews on the Sunday talk shows and comments given, and was perplexed why such a headline would appear. I did not hear any spokesperson iterate this attitude, although I did see comments that differed with some conclusions by some federal agencies. I read the article more than once, looking for the details to validate this headline. I did not see any. I “obviously mistakenly” assumed the details in an article would explain the headline. I thought this is what journalism was about, as opposed to opinion. Op/ed is a separate section.

So I assumed this paper receives it’s dictates from the parent company. I verified this is not the case. The Parkersburg News and Sentinel has latitude on what to publish and how to present it.

For those who remember, when Parkersburg had a separate News and Sentinel edition, the News edition “leaned” a little right (UPI sourced) and the Sentinel “leaned” a little left (AP sourced). Fine. The mainstream press today, definitely tilts (probably an understatement) left and recent national surveys indicate the vast majority of the public does not trust the press for fair and unbiased reporting. I might add that UPI is barely a shadow of what it once was.

Those who closely read our newspaper, hopefully would have noted headline omissions during the DOJ sponsored Fast and Furious gun running operation, the many questions surrounding the Benghazi attack on the U.S. consulate, the facts behind Hillary Clinton’s private email server (and the lies as verified by FBI head James Comey), the seemingly questionable actions by the Clinton Foundation, and the inaccuracies given by Pres. Obama surrounding the ACA (aka Obamacare). If I recall, there were few (if any) articles on the above, and generally was a page 3 or 4 article.

Unfortunately, we do not have another option how to get our local print news. We must accept the bias that we have and move on. I have thought for years that the local editorial staff was pragmatic regarding national news, but I am now rethinking this.

Larry Reed

Parkersburg