‘You’re biased!’

It’s not even noon, already a council member told me “the articles you publish seems to be very biased” … then, on Facebook, someone else said “I’m starting to wonder about your ethics” — because I posted an elected official’s photo. (Still trying to figure that one out …) I guess this is an update of some of the criticisms I used to hear, circa 2008-12, when I was Editor of the North Coast News (RIP?): “You’re just trying to sell papers!” “There he goes, stirring the pot again!” Then-Mayor Dean Bunkers even called me out during a City Council meeting, for my reporting on the Street LID and other city cost overruns. (Bunkers resigned shortly after that, so…)

Am I Walter Cronkite? No, unfortunately … Though my self-appointed role as reporter-columnist-editor-publisher might “blur the lines,” and though I’m not shy about tossing in a little commentary here and there, when reporting I do try to show both sides of stories. As you will see, if you follow some posts later today on another case that threatens to split Ocean Shores in two…