By Susan Snead
I am writing to express my disappointment with an article in the Creston Valley Advance.
It has to do with a rally that was held in Creston on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020, called “A Peaceful Protest”.
I felt sorry for the two boys that were sent to report on the rally. They seemed clearly out of their element. From my experience, they did nothing to convey the scope of that public meeting. Also, the photos did not at all capture the essence of the rally or the amount of people who showed up. It was clearly a photo of disrespect.
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From the article, I gleaned very little. I want to know what was said by the speakers and why. Obviously many people were standing up for something they believed in very strongly. Most were Creston’s upstanding citizens. Many were middle-aged and elderly with strong convictions.
The ones that appeared to be in opposition to the rally were young girls standing across the street wearing masks showing their lack of agreement. I doubt they even heard what was being said by the passionate speakers, as cars drove by honking their horns in support of the protest.
I cannot help noticing that this “type” of reporting is happening on a regular basis. It begs me to ask the question, “Is keeping the status quo more important than reporting on what is actually happening in our community?”
Many people are divided on a lot of different topics these days, but if we don’t have a dialogue about the fears and concerns that seem to be surfacing more and more, then how can we navigate all the information beginning to surface that goes beyond the scope of this multi-national pandemic?
Who do we put our trust into when we have no trust left? Perhaps it’s time to listen and report at least the “truth” of what some members of the community think is going on. There are people in the world putting their lives on the line to tell another story!
I don’t mean to disrespect your reporters, but please, in the future, don’t send boys who clearly have their own agenda to report the news in an unbiased way. If they can’t report the body of information then what’s the point of writing any article at all. Sticking with the status quo may keep you feeling safe but it sure won’t be good reporting.
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