Brookings Pastor Kline: The loss of local media is especially damaging now. We desperately need honest journalism

Editor’s note: As a follow-up to Tom Lawrence’s piece on the subject, we’re publishing what Pastor Kline wrote in the immediate aftermath of the Brookings Register’s closing. Though the paper has since been bought by another entity and will continue publishing, Kline’s thoughts remain germane – John Tsitrian

Last Thursday, I looked for our daily newspaper, The Brookings Register, without success. So I called the office to report it.

That had happened before, and after calling and giving my address, the person I spoke with on the phone promised to drop a paper off on her way home. Sure enough, she was true to her word; an advantage of a small-town newspaper. But this time when I called the office, there was no one to answer the phone.

Friday night there was no paper again. That was when we learned that the paper had been closed.

Staff had been notified on Wednesday they no longer had a job. It smacked of Elon Musk. Apparently he has set a standard for how employees are treated by the government as well as by news corporations. One day you are employed, the next day you aren’t.

As if sudden unemployment isn’t bad enough, I see the paper closure as a sign of an even larger problem. Three other communities in our state lost their local paper at the same time as Brookings. And we have seen recent cuts in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private nonprofit serving 1,500 local public radio and television stations since 1967; plus PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio).

Both PBS and NPR are trusted and reliable sources of news, less partisan than most corporate sources. Over a billion dollars in funding had been initially approved by Congress, but was taken away after an executive order from the president. A CPB executive confirmed they would be laying off employees and be out of business by early next year.

Other television news sources are also under threat. There is the story of the president and CBS. He brought a seemingly frivolous lawsuit against the network for editorial decisions made in an interview with Kamala Harris in 2024. It resulted in a $16 million contribution from CBS to the future Donald Trump library, not because of any legal judgment, but because of his power to influence their corporate future. And with a new owner, Trump is promised $20 million worth of advertising and programming.

This all happened as the Stephen Colbert show was cancelled by CBS, a show where Trump was often the target of Colbert humor.

In a similar situation, the Trump presidential library received a $15 million donation from ABC news, to settle another lawsuit Trump brought, over the way they reported his legal situation with E. Jean Carroll. He has even gone after the Wall Street Journal and Robert Murdoch of Fox News. 

Speaking to reporters on his way to the helicopter the other day, he was heard uttering a word he is certainly using more often for unfavorable questions from reporters: “bullshit!” He said it with emphasis and obvious anger; not his usual placid Oval Office response, sitting at his desk and responding to questions. 

One fears that as he continues to work his will on all of the “fake news” sources, we will lose all credible sources for news, and become the trapped recipients of his “bullshit.” Controlling the news is an important task for any authoritarian regime! 

There are hopeful signs! There are journalists who are committed to the work in small-town settings. They have a sense of the importance of the local and regional news for the average person.

They want to share an awareness of city and county government, local events and happenings. They want to communicate the reality of difficult news, like accidents and obituaries, as well as births, weddings and other celebrations. They provide a sports page and an editorial page, with room for readers to write. Maybe they publish weekly, or maybe they go digital. Either way, they are driven by service, not just by profit.

And on the national scene, the average person has an opportunity to support those sources that are large enough, or courageous enough, to report the truth, whether favorable to those in power or not. 

For instance, the Epstein files are not a hoax or a Democratic plot! They are an obvious concern for every person with children and concerned about the problem of pedophilia. I’m personally appreciative that some of the national media keep the issue in the spotlight, as there are so many unanswered questions.

How did Epstein die? Why did our government spend two days interviewing Ghislaine Maxwell and then have her transferred to a minimum-security prison, an unusual move for sexual predators? 

Why would the continuing interest in Epstein be a Democratic plot when a likely Democratic president will be in the files? Why are some of the victims identifying the present president as involved?

A total of 27 women have accused Trump of sexual assault or harrassment. Are they all liars?

We need to admit that we have a felon as our president, convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts, but facing no consequences because of his office. (You or I would likely be in prison.)

We need to recognize that he lies and blames others for his problems, and is unable to admit to, or assume personal responsibility for, his failures. We need to work for, and hope for, his impeachment or removal from office, so we can have some confidence in our leadership once more. 

And most important, we need truth-tellers in the media, who won’t let stalling or lies keep us from knowing the truth. 

And we need local media to help us keep and build community — that is the essential strength of any nation.

Carl Kline of Brookings is a United Church of Christ clergyman and adjunct faculty member at the Mt. Marty College campus in Watertown. He is a founder and on the planning committee of the Brookings Interfaith Council, co-founder of Nonviolent Alternatives, a small not-for-profit that, for 15 years, provided intercultural experiences with Lakota/Dakota people in the Northern Plains and brought conflict resolution and peer mediation programs to schools around the region. He was one of the early participants in the development of Peace Brigades International. Kline can be reached at carl@satyagrahainstitute.org. 

Photo: Brookings County courthouse, public domain, wikimedia commons

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