A Breath of Fresh Air

A long-time and very dear friend of mine wrote a letter to the editor of the Sarasota Herald Tribune in what is the clearest and most cogent response to the Left’s latest meltdown about free speech that I have seen yet.  I’ve included his letter at the end of this post because it deserves to be read by clear-thinking Americans.   I’m also including it because it’s highly doubtful the Herald Tribune, which is one of a group of regional newspapers owned by the New York Times, will publish it because it doesn’t conform to their political narrative.

Other than being the best piece of commentary, I’ve read in some time, it occurred to me, that the name of the newspaper itself, Sarasota Herald Tribune, while almost canonical is like most legacy media outlets, an extremely misleading name for a newspaper.  Newspaper names like Herald, Tribune, Gazette, Chronicle, Post, Journal, Times, etc., are all rooted in older words that carried meanings about news, announcements, or public record.

The word Herald comes from the Old French herault and Old Germanic hariwald (messenger”) and in medieval times, a herald was an official messenger often responsible for making proclamations, announcements, and organizing tournaments.  By extension, it came to mean someone who announces important news.  So, by incorporating the word “Herald” in its name a newspaper positions itself as a bringer of news to the public.

Meanwhile, Tribune traces back to ancient Rome, a “tribunus” was a magistrate who represented and spoke for the citizens.  Over time, “tribune” became a figurative term for a voice of the people suggesting it represents or speaks on behalf of its readership, giving them a platform.

In the 18th and 19th centuries publishers chose names that implied authority, trust, and service to the public, hence the words Herald, meaning we announce news clearly and promptly, and Tribune, which means we speak for the people, not just the elites.   And that is why we see combinations such as ‘Herald Tribune’ – it’s the publishers’ way of saying “we’re the people’s trusted messenger on global events.”

~ “The people’s trusted messenger on global events?” ~

Trust in U.S. media has been declining for decades.  Gallup data show a major drop from the 1970s when trust among the public in the media hovered around 70%.  However,  in recent years we’ve experienced record lows on the trust scale, and as recently as of late 2024, only 31% of U.S. adults said they had a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence that the legacy media reported the news fully, fairly, and accurately.

At the same time, there’s a significant partisan gap, with democrats being much more likely to trust the media than republicans.  Gallup polls indicate about 55% of Democrats say they have a great deal or at least a fair amount of trust, vs about 12% of Republicans.  Independents generally fall somewhere in the 30% range.

Trust in the media in the United States isn’t just low; it’s among the lowest on earth discounting Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), the People’s Daily (China), Rodong Sinmun (North Korea) and Iran (Iran,)  that some of our media is beginning to resemble.  Of course, too, political polarization plays a big role in who trusts media and who doesn’t.  So, today, I’m going to share with you what the far-left leaning Sarasota Herald Tribune chose not to publish.  So, read the following and I think you’ll agree it’s “A breath of fresh air!”

“Please stop! 

“Gaslighting” was bad enough, but the latest hysteria over the Kimmel cancellation has now become Orwellian-like. “Don’t believe your lying eyes. We’re telling you: 2 + 2 = 5” 

Trump did not cancel Jimmy Kimmel! The FCC did not cancel the Jimmy Kimmel show nor did the FCC suspend ABC’s broadcast rights!  If anything, Jimmy Kimmel cancelled himself! His show has been “tanking” over the last 10 years. The final straw was an egregious lie showing absolutely neither compassion, good taste, sensitivity, nor factual truth.  

It was not even a tasteless joke gone bad. It was a blatant falsehood accusing  a Trump supporter of being the Kirk assassin. It was 5 days afterwards, and the assassin’s motivation and ideology had already been revealed via the murderer’s own texts. It was a shameless and deliberate attempt to mislead his audience without concern/regard for the business consequences.

Nextstar and Sinclair market dozens of ABC affiliates. They made a business decision to not lose what little market share they had left by insulting and alienating any remaining audience. If they had a vegan audience they wouldn’t run beef commercials, nor pork ads to an Islamic or Jewish audience either. 2 + 2 = 4.”

Thomas A. Smith – Sarasota, Florida