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COMMENTARY: We make mistakes. But don't call us the enemy or 'fake news'

Journalists across the country published editorials Thursday in response to President Donald Trump's rhetoric that the press is the enemy. Here is Chris Vanderveen's.
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KUSA — Make no mistake. There are mistakes.

Big ones. Little ones.

Forgivable ones. And some not-so-forgivable ones.

To err is human. To fail to correct is a sign.

Maybe that’s what separates fake news from “fake news.”

I decided I wanted to become a journalist at an obnoxiously early age.

Eight-year-old kids don’t typically know their professions. For me, it was a bit of a premonition.

Sitting in front of a television set – a set with large plastic knobs for audio and channels – I watched in amazement as someone informed me of the goings-on of my community.

Back then my community was Denver. The station was KUSA-TV. And the someone was a guy named Carl Akers.

Akers was direct. Even to a young lad such as myself, he seemed a tad cantankerous (not that I could utter that word then). And I loved the way he told me a story.

I wanted to do that, I thought.

And so, in high school I became the editor of my high school newspaper.

In college, I applied to the journalism school and ultimately received a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism.

B.S.

I can hear the giggling now.

Fitting, right?

Turns out, I turned that B.S. into a job working cameras at the local CBS affiliate in the large metroplex of Casper, Wyoming.

For my 60 hours a week of work, I earned a whopping $12,500 a year.

Our building sat next to a Subway. I ate a lot of sandwiches there. And soups. I often wondered if I needed to apply there to help augment my income.

I never did apply. But I thought about it the first time a check of mine bounced.

Truth is, I never got into this business for the money. While many of my friends entered business fields that assured them comfortable lifestyles, I was the dumb kid who simply wanted to do something to change the world for the better.

Yep, I was an idealist. A very poor idealist.

Most journalists I know share similar stories.

Borderline poverty, long hours, stress, ramen, empty bank accounts and a general lack of understanding from anyone outside of this crazy business.

I can’t tell you how many people I know think it must be cool to be on TV.

It’s not.

Not in the general sense of the word.

The hours stink. Holidays are work days. Strangers frequently offer advice that belongs less in an email inbox and more in online forum on wacky, nonsensical conspiracy theories.

But most of us still love it. Love it with the kind of irrationality that might only make sense in the deepest, darkest conspiracy theory rabbit hole.

No, we don’t always get the story right.

Sources lie.

We miss something that should have been obvious.

Quite frankly, we err.

Can we do a better job? Absolutely. Do we sometimes let politicians sweet talk us too much?

Yep.

Are some of us far too willing to show our biases?

More than two decades in this business have taught me that, yes, some of us are.

But most of the journalists I know, the ones I have worked with for decades, believe what I believe.

We simply want to get to the truth.

We want people to feel more aware of the goings-on in their communities.

And we will not bow to those in power who suggest what we are doing is fake.

Fake news is what happens when someone isn’t committed to telling the truth.

I wish you could come into my newsroom when we’re debating whether to go with a tidbit that most of you might consider insignificant.

We will agonize over it.

There’s true passion.

And many times, that tidbit never makes it to air.

You’d be amazed by how many things we don’t report -- things we believe to be true but can’t verify beyond those beliefs.

That’s what, in my mind, separates fake news from “fake news.”

The former should always be shunned. Fake is fake. Wrong is wrong. Bad is bad.

But when someone uses the phrase “fake news” to attack a story that is unflattering yet otherwise true, then I have a problem with that.

Journalism exists in this country to hold the powerful in check.

It does not exist to flatter egos.

Can we do a better job moving forward of holding all the powerful – no matter the party – accountable?

Absolutely.

Does that cause some who now freely use the term “fake news” to question our motives?

Sadly, I believe, yes.

But it is our ability to correct our mistakes and admit our errors that separates us from the real fake news.

We can do better.

We can always do better.

But we are not fake. We are not liars.

And most of us are still simply trying to do what we sought out to do when we decided to go into the not-so-glamorous work of journalism.

In many ways, I’m still the same 8-year old kid who sat in front of that television set and listened to someone tell me a story.

It’s just that now I’m on the other side of the screen.

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