With respect to the Rev. Mark Harris for his March 28 letter, titled Gazette needs to rethink policy on national news, though I understand that “all politics are local,” I would like to posit a different view.
Full disclosure: I am one of those people who discovered southern Delaware, fell in love with it, and came here frequently to escape Manhattan and spend time in the real world. At retirement time, I chose to move here. I am one of those who thought, “OK, I’m here now, you can close the doors.” Didn’t happen. I understand.
But upon moving, one of the most satisfying things I found as a new resident was the focus on truly local concerns by our local news organizations. It is too often forgotten that grassroots issues are equal to, if not more relevant than some national concerns. Often, it can be the opportunity to intervene before misguided decisions create problems in our future, by bubbling up rather than trickling down. It is of the utmost importance that we have ample coverage of local matters for all of us to be well informed.
There are multiple outlets to obtain national political news, and we are more than capable of filtering through them for that information. Thus, there is no need for the Cape Gazette to rethink its policy. In fact, doing so could well set a news organization up for being influenced by outside pressures that could skew the information we receive.
For the event described in the letter, it is not the role of the press to encourage the free expression of ideas, but to report on it, if found newsworthy.
I believe the Cape Gazette has adopted the correct posture on this, just as I agree with its recent decision to no longer publish the myriad of political endorsements disguised as letters to the editor.
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