Editorial: A newspaper for everyone

New Hampshire Public Radio acknowledged this week the team made a mistake by sponsoring a political event in Hanover. The station said its newsroom was neither involved in nor aware of the decision.

NHPR deserves credit for recognizing the problem. But the incident raises a question every news organization, including this one, must take seriously: How do we earn and keep the trust of people with very different political views?

Trust in national news media has eroded. Many Americans believe major outlets have abandoned objectivity in favor of political agendas. Whether or not those judgments are always fair, the loss of confidence is real, and threatens journalism's ability to serve the public.

For a local newspaper, the stakes are especially high. We don't serve a political constituency. We serve a community.

Our readers are Republicans, Democrats, independents and people who want nothing to do with politics. They are business owners, employees, teachers, retirees and young families. They may disagree about elections, taxes and schools. But they share the same towns, roads and neighborhoods.

They deserve a newspaper they can trust.

That doesn't mean we promise perfect objectivity. Journalists are human beings with opinions and assumptions like everyone else. But objectivity is more than a state of mind. It is a discipline. It means checking facts, questioning our assumptions, seeking different perspectives and applying the same standards to everyone, regardless of political affiliation.

Fairness doesn't mean giving equal weight to truth and falsehood. It means following the facts wherever they lead, and treating people with respect, even when we disagree with them.

It means keeping a clear line between news and opinion. Our news coverage must be fair and independent. Our opinion pages provide a place for readers to express their views, including views we may not share. Both have an important role, and serve different purposes.

Consider our opinion page. Many regular contributors have strong political views and don't hesitate to express them. Some readers accuse us of favoring Democrats. Others are just as certain we favor Republicans. Sometimes we hear both complaints in the same week.

That's the nature of a newspaper that welcomes competing points of view. We don't expect our readers to agree with one another — or with us. But we want everyone to know they have a voice.

Across the country, newspapers have been rethinking their opinion pages. Some have reduced the space devoted to letters and commentary, while others have eliminated traditional editorial pages or changed how they invite readers to participate.

We believe that space is worth preserving. It takes valuable staff time and room in the newspaper, and keeping the conversation open isn't always easy. Some letters provoke angry responses. But a newspaper shouldn't limit its opinion pages to views its editors or readers find agreeable. Our letters page is a public forum, and we believe our community is stronger for it.

Publishing a letter doesn't mean we endorse its argument. It means we believe a community is better served when its citizens can hear from one another. We also welcome letters criticizing the newspaper itself.

We saw the value of this common ground recently when we co-sponsored a debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District. It was one of the few occasions when candidates faced each other directly.

Just as importantly, voters from all sides sat in the same room, heard the same questions and listened to the same answers. They didn't have to agree. But they shared an experience grounded in something more substantial than competing social media feeds and campaign messages.

That's an important role of local journalism. We don't simply report what happens in our community. We also bring people together to discuss issues that affect their lives.

There is an important distinction between sponsoring a political cause and providing a forum where competing views can be heard. The first risks compromising a news organization's independence. The second helps fulfill its public responsibility.

None of this means we will please everyone. Nor should we try. Sometimes fair reporting will anger one side, sometimes the other, and sometimes both. Our responsibility isn't to balance the complaints. It's to get the facts right and give people a fair hearing.

We recently adopted a new mission statement: "To bring what matters to light through trusted local journalism, The Laconia Daily Sun connects the people and businesses of the Lakes Region to build a stronger, healthier community."

Those aren't just words. They're a promise to our readers, and a guide for our team, as we build a news outlet for the future.

We won't always get everything right. When we make mistakes, we will acknowledge and correct them. But we must always strive to be fair, independent and worthy of your trust.

Our community doesn't need another voice telling people what they want to hear. It needs a place where citizens can learn what's happening, weigh different points of view and find common ground.

That's the newspaper we're working to build.

A newspaper for everyone.