My name is Macy and I have opinions.

I’m so tired of the journalism industry’s death grip on so-called impartiality. No one is impartial. It IS possible to write a story without any real slant. I know this because at my previous job in Hays County, Texas people used to accuse me of both Republican and Democratic biases based on my coverage of commissioner’s court.  I was accused of siding with one side almost exactly as often as the other, so I know I must have been doing something right.

But, I knew the commissioners pretty well and it was quite obvious to me who was lying, who was simply ignorant and who was honestly trying to do good things for the community. But, I couldn’t tell my readers because I had to treat everyone equally.

The reason people read newspapers is because they have lives. They don’t have the time or desire to go to every city council and planning and zoning meeting. That’s what reporters do. They become experts on the politicians they cover and what’s going on in their communities. Why people don’t let reporters tell them what’s going on in for real is beyond me.

Look, I understand that not everyone is going to agree with my assessment of things. That’s fine. I’m going to tell you how I made my analysis of the situation, though. I’m still going to give you the facts, but after I’m done breaking it down I’m going to tell you how I see it.

I have had to write articles where I knew for a FACT that the person I was quoting was full of shit. I couldn’t prove it though. SO, in order to be “fair” I had to quote them and my only recourse was to find an adversary and let them say why they didn’t agree. Unfortunately, the adversaries rarely said what I would have. All I could do was present as much evidence as I could to the contrary without seeming like I was out to “get” somebody.

Look, I’m not a political rival or a special interest group that has a vested interest in a grand majority of the beats I have covered. Wouldn’t you rather hear it from me than somebody who has an ax to grind? Sure, I’d have an interest in taxes and zoning near my house and all those other things, but if I told my readers about it, what would be the harm?

I’m just so tired of being told that in order to preserve my ability to work as a journalist I can’t speak my mind except to my colleagues in the newsroom. Because, ladies and jellyspoons, the bile  you hear on the airwaves or see on cable television is a far cry from the partisan fire breathing that goes on newsrooms all over America. These people have opinions. They’re just not allowed to tell anyone about it.

My point is that nobody is free of biases. Instead of pretending like the delicate minds of our audience would be shattered if we put a little analysis in articles outside of the opinion section, let’s add value to our stories. We get paid to know what the hell is going on. Let’s tell people about it.

I took an ethics class last semester where I was told that as a reporter these things were strictly forbidden:

• Having a political sign in my front yard, even if it belongs to my spouse
• Putting any bumper sticker on my car or any of my belongings that might be construed to reveal something about my opinions
• Disclosing any political views on facebook, no matter how vague
• Attending the inauguration
• Attending any kind of march, demonstration or protest that I am not covering
• Writing any blog entries about my political views

I could start to do these things in the event I get an opinion writing job, but since experienced journalists are the ones who get those plumb jobs and there are scads of unemployed journalists out there with more experience than I have, that’ll be a cold day in hell.

I’m not suggesting that every news article should be an editorial or op-ed. I’m just suggesting that reporters should have the flexibility to tell their audience something directly if there is something that a bare recitation of the facts can’t accomplish.

Campbell Brown of “No Bias, No Bull*&^%” appeared on The Daily Show and she said it best, I think. She said, and I’m paraphrasing, that if Candidate A says it’s raining outside and Candidate B says it’s sunny, a reporter should be able to look outside and say, “Clearly, it is sunny and Candidate A is wrong.”

I totally agree. What do y’all think?