I am ashamed of some of America’s national media.

Their constant harangue against the president is both ignorant and embarrassing.

Before I got in the newspaper business in mid-January 1958 I had not been a fan of newspapers in general.

I didn’t know if I would stay in the business when I first started working.

My first job at the

Pauls Valley Daily Democrat

I think at the handsome salary of $60 a week beat what I had earned in numerous part-time jobs while going to school full time at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.

But that job was an eye-opener. Our editor, Ed Burchfi el, was a true professional. He was thorough, accurate and fair. That is something I have found true of most rural paper journalists.

Ed taught me more in the first three months I worked there than I learned in the years I spent at OSU.

I’m not saying the OSU journalism faculty was bad, but I think you don’t really learn how to handle any job until you’ve done it a while. Working is the best teacher.

School primarily gives a young person time to grow up, I’ve decided, looking back.

I also came to the conclusion that the public as a rule doesn’t appreciate the work that goes into putting out a newspaper.

How often I’ve heard the comment from a subscriber calling in to report missing a paper, “I don’t know why I take it; there’s never anything in it.”

But you don’t dare not getting the paper to them. I also learned early on that a newspaper is a handy “scape goat” for those who get caught in inappropriate behavior. When somebody gets charged with a criminal matter, for instance, it’s not them to blame but the newspaper for putting it in the newspaper.

When I was 26-years-old I had open-heart surgery to correct a birth defect.

I covered the courthouse for the

Daily Democrat

and prior to the surgery I had written a brief item about a lady realtor being charged with a DUI.

A friend told me later the lady went around saying, “I knew something bad would happen to him”– meaning me for printing her charge in the paper.

I can’t remember the lady’s name from more than 60 years ago but what she thought was punishment for me was actually the best gift I ever received.

The surgery gave me a new lease on life and the opportunity to raise my children and continue working for 67 years in the field that I wasn’t thrilled with, at first. The lady who complained didn’t know it but if that charge had been filed against me or anyone else at the newspaper, it would have been published, likely in a more prominent position than her incident.

That surgery was also my first contact with Kingfi sher. The lead surgeon was a Kingfisher product, Dr. Allen E. Greer, the son of a former Kingfisher County district judge. The other members of the team were Nazih Zuhdi, for whom the transplant Institute at Integris Baptist Medical Center is named and also Dr. John Carey, another well-known and respected surgeon. Dr. Greer mentioned to me that Dr. Carey was a concert-level pianist. The team was instrumental in the development of the heart-lung machine which made open heart surgery possible.

My complaint with the media today including the television networks and the social media involves the carelessness they have with the truth.

While the main stream media ignored the problems with former President Biden, things like importing millions of illegal aliens along with illegal drugs and child traffickers, it has maintained a steady attack against Trump, creating accusations out of whole cloth.

Maybe one of the sillier ones came recently when one Trump hater attacked him for wearing a blue suit to Pope Francis’ funeral. A photo was manipulated to show Trump in his blue suit, which is his norm, with others in black clothing. If the shot had been expanded slightly it would have shown many attendees wearing blue.

The rest of the flock of Trump haters followed suit, trying to make a big deal of it.

What is interesting is that they failed to mention that Prince William from England attended the service also wearing a blue suit.

The leftist media is fully engaged in making the United States part of a worldwide oligarchy ruled by elitist despots who don’t give a fig – actually hate – the American freedoms which made it the freest, most successful government in history.

Fortunately the Trump team hasn’t backed down from the attacks and a majority of citizens have come to realize that Trump intends to fight for them and against leftist elitists who believe it is their right to dictate our every step.

Yes, I realize those same people consider the likes of me a bug who will be crushed when the appropriate time comes.

from behind the plow

(A column of opinion by Gary Reid, Publisher Emeritus)