Honk if you love a reporter

I'm going to digress this morning. For just once, I'm going to get away from prisoner issues.

While it's true that I am a prisoner advocate, and a life-long church musician, what I really am is a reporter. I'm not in the broadcasting business anymore, but it's kinda like a cop...once a cop, always a cop. Same with being a journalist.

I'm coming to the defense of journalists this morning in the wake of the Oklahoma disaster.

One cannot have been watching all of this coverage without gaining new appreciation for the street reporter...the journalist out there in the thick of things.

I'm so tired of hearing the phrase "liberal media."

I could identify with those Oklahoma reporters. As a very young newsman I have spent all night in severe weather headquarters on occasion, broadcasting updates to the people in my community. My personal politics had nothing to do with my desire to make sure our listeners were informed.

Thanks to the liberal media, if you insist on using those words, many fatalities were avoided in Oklahoma because of the outstanding warning information that was fanned out by the local outlets.

And the great coverage in Oklahoma was not provided by the big network guns flown in to get ratings...it was provided by those guys and gals in the trenches, doing their best to provide news coverage for their friends and neighbors.

That's the way it really is, ladies and gentlemen. The media does not consist of a few high profile people on the cable networks. The media are made up of thousands of conscientious journalists who, regardless of their personal political beliefs, are committed to seeking the truth on behalf of their readers, listeners or viewers. That's how you are getting informed everyday.

Some bad apples in the bunch? Yep, just like anywhere else.

The reporter is an important cog in the gears of democracy, and I'm proud to be called one of them.

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