A couple of weeks ago, I received a message asking me to be a true journalist. It contained a comment about a politician I should be pointing out is not a good representative of the state of Montana. In other words, I would only be a good journalist if I wrote an article according to her opinion. She did say I should represent both sides, but it was obvious to me, for her, truth is only represented by her political persuasion.

Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished freedoms, but I was raised to understand that with that freedom comes responsibilities. You don’t malign (evil in nature or effect) or speak in a spiteful manner.

A good quote would be “Rights are freedoms we have that are protected by our laws, while responsibilities are duties or things that we should do. In order to be good citizens, or members of a community, we must understand our rights and responsibilities.”

I was brought up to listen honestly to both sides. For example I would never just watch Fox News or CNN only. In fact I don’t believe either network has handled the freedom of speech correctly. They don’t even try to represent both sides. I find them both to be unethical.

Recently I listened to the Autobiography of Ben Franklin, by Ben Franklin, partly because I always have respect him and his contribution to our country, but also because he is my 1st cousin 10x removed. He owned a newspaper and he commented that even then people wanted to use his paper for their own purpose. He believed that approach was unethical.

I would like more opinion pieces by community members as long as they adhere to the above responsibilities.