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What’s journalism — and what’s not
Sep 10, 2025
We know that our community values its journalism. The generous contributions from readers and the steady support from our advertisers is evidence that you value the job we do in providing a weekly report on the goings and comings in your towns and in the region. But how about the larger world of American news consumers? A recent study by the Pew Research Center on “How Americans View Journalists in the Digital Age” reveals that most us put value on the role of journalists in society, even as they see their influence declining.
The study also explores the mixed views of Americans when it comes to the various types of content that journalists provide. Respondents in the study are either unsure about or actually don’t think that someone who compiles and shares someone else’s reporting, or offers opinions or commentary should be called a journalist. Someone who conducts his or her own reporting would be — yes — a journalist. The highest certainty about who Americans qualify to be journalists falls to anyone who writes for a newspaper, followed by television and radio reporters, including radio news show hosts. Newsletters, podcasts and social media posts largely fall into a “not-journalism” category. However, the study also found perceptions differed by age group. Four in ten adults aged 18 to 29 said that “someone who posts about news on social media is a journalist,” while in the ‘65-and-up’ group, only 14% considered social media posts as the work of a journalist.
Americans are most likely to see journalists as those who conduct their own reporting. The staff at The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News produce original content. We are present at meetings, events, community fairs, sporting events and elsewhere in the community to report what we see and hear.We are journalists producing our own content.
In what might be a commentary on today’s world, the study found that 59% of Americans say journalists are “extremely” or “very important” to the well-being of society. But 49% also say journalists are losing their influence. In past surveys by Pew, journalists have been less trusted to act in the best interest of the public than other institutions and professions, including the military, scientists and police officers.
When it comes to what Americans want from their news providers: Honesty, intelligence and authenticity top the list. And those attributes are followed by kindness — meaning that it’s important to Americans at large that the people who provide their news display kindness. Americans care far less about wanting humor, charisma or popularity from their news sources.
In today’s polarized society, it is encouraging to see that Pew found three-quarters of Americans believe that journalists should report both sides of an issue or event, giving all sides equal coverage. That’s also in line with the perspective of U.S. journalists themselves, according to an earlier Pew survey.
What do you think?
How do you view journalism in the digital age? Who counts as a journalist? What matters most to you from a journalist? Do you agree that both sides of an issue deserve equal coverage?
Let us know by emailing publisher@lakevillejournal.com
(To read the full Pew report, go to: pewrsr.ch/4fDZmnll)
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Wake Robin cartoon comes up short
The cartoon in the August 28 edition (“The Wake Robin Mahal”) is a poor excuse for a caricature that doesn’t help anyone understand the issues involved in this complicated problem.
There are strong arguments on both sides with respect to the Aradev application, with both benefits and detriments to the community, but the greatest disappointment for me has been the utter lack of effort by nearby homeownersto work with Aradev on modifications to the plan that would be satisfactory to those living in the immediate neighborhood.Surely, no one wants to see the facility simply abandoned, with all the problems that would create, and no one wants to see the return of large outdoor tented events well into the night - something that is already permitted within the pre-existing status. Given the alternatives, it’s hard to believe that the nearby homeowners and Aradev can’t find a path forward together.
If it turns out, however, that Aradev has decided that further modifications create too much economic risk to justify their investment, then P&Z will have to decide on the application as submitted(with modifications and commitments already offered). And it will have to do so in accordance with our town regulations, regardless of how any of us feels one way or the other about the project. In any case, your cartoon certainly doesn’t advance an understanding orresolution of the issues.
Mike Abram
Lakeville
Mayland nod for selectman
It is my pleasure to enthusiastically support and recommend the election to Selectman of Don Mayland.
Don served three terms as Salisbury Selectman in past years and his experience in the role is invaluable.
He also served on the Town Board of Finance for 24 years, and was Chairman of the Salisbury Water Pollution Control Authority for 10 years. In addition he was President of the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance service 9 years and as Chairman of the Board of Litchfield Bancorp 26 years and taught economics at Hotchkiss School for 38 years.
Clearly Don has the requisite experience we need for so important a position as Selectman.
In addition to being intelligent and experienced Don is kind and generous and liked and admired by all who associate with him.
I recommend his candidacy unreservedly.
Maureen Bateman
Lakeville
Wake Robin plan too big for town
The letter from Laurie Fendrich and Peter Plagens published in the August 28th issue of the Lakeville Journal sums up correctly why the
Planning and Zoning Commission should deny Aradevpermission to go forward with their project.
Further, as a resident of Lakeville for 27 years in a house of a little more than 2,000 square feet sited on more than two acres, Aradev’s current proposal to build four guest houses of 2,000 square feet each is absurd in the extreme.
Their size cannot be considered guest cottages and the zoning required to put four such house on 12 acres in addition to everything else that is proposed would, I think, not be permissible.
Quite simply the proposal from Aradev is too large for the site and too large for Lakeville.
The Commission has a duty to all concerned to put an endto the matter.
Inge Heckel
Salisbury
Why cartoonists often take aim at Trump
Mr. Morrison’s letter to the Journal rings true in many ways. Anyone, including friends of the Republican Town Committee, is free to submit cartoons, I encourage them to do so. We all love a break from the written word. But as for Donald Trump himself, the paper appears to be giving him just what he has always wanted: placement front and center. If Trump and his administration were not such a constant and appealing target, cartoonists would aim at other subjects.
Phil Oppenheimer
Lakeville
Understanding the job of a political cartoonist
I commend the Journal for its balanced treatment of political views in its letters to the editor section.
Mr. Morrison’s frustration concerning cartoons is understandable, but political cartoons only highlight what’s reported in the daily news — the absurdities and follies. It just so happens that one party not only monopolizes the news but also produces an abundance of headscratching episodes.
To point out such follies is the job of a cartoonist and Peter Steiner’s cartoons do that with humor and wit. Keep them coming!
Fritz Mueller
Sharon
In Waterbury, Wake Robin would go unnoticed
Would the Wake Robin Mega Project be classified as a nuisance? Not if it were in Waterbury.
Lakeville was an industrial town in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. My family owned and operated all the furnaces and forges in Lakeville, Lime Rock and on Mt. Riga beginning in 1795. There is no question that these were a nuisance.They ran 24 hours a day, bringing traffic with continuous ox carts carrying iron ore, charcoal and limestone.The forests around here were cut to the ground and burned to make charcoal. The furnaces belched toxic smoke.Lakeville was called Furnace Village back then for a reason.
The town has since changed dramatically. It is a small jewel of tranquility with the deepest lake in Connecticut, a golf course, world-class hiking trails, excellent private and public schools all set in a wooded, quiet area of less than 1500 acres and 849 homes (according to Homes.com). I urge the Planning and Zoning Commission to not issue a special permit for the Wake Robin mega project because if you do, you will unleash a nuisance on this town not unlike what we banished in the 19th century.
There is no question that if allowed to proceed, the new Wake Robin would be a nuisance that would rival our industrial period, with traffic, noise and massive interference with the character of the town. You only need to look at the volume of large parties it would need to support, what many estimate is an investment of millions of dollars. By its own Proposed Conditions of Approval, it expects to book at least 24 large, 100-plus person events each year. An event can include a wedding that would involve pre-and-post parties from Friday to Sunday and count as a single event. Depending on how those are booked during the year, it’s possible there won’t be a peaceful weekend ever again in the summer or fall, when most of us are here for the peace and quiet.
To further my point on the nature of the nuisance that the project would bring, consider how the Wake Robin project would impact Waterbury, or Hartford.Those towns are 60x-100x times the size of Lakeville. If it would go unnoticed in a large industrial town because of the noise and level of activity, it would clearly be a nuisance here.
Theodore Rudd O’Neill
Lakeville
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Trump’s war on offshore wind power
Sep 10, 2025
Trump has made no secret of his fondness for the fossil fuel industries, major funders of his campaigns. But his dislike of wind and solar power is less well known, hard to understand and has been growing over the years from mild disfavor to apparent hatred. Some people think this might have to do with a 2013 visit Trump took to his golf course near Aberdeen on the Scottish coast where he found a small offshore 11 turbine wind farm under construction in the bay in the middle of his view and tried, angrily but to no avail to stop it.
Referring to wind turbines during a recent cabinet meeting, Trump said “They’re ugly. They don’t work. They kill your birds. They’re bad for the environment.” (But if he were so concerned about saving birds — and wind machines are a negligible threat — why hasn’t he put protective bird-friendly glazing on his Manhattan skyscraper?)
Last month the Trump administration halted construction on Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion wind farm off New London, Conn. The project, 80% finished, was stopped by the Trump administration with an unconvincing explanation that there were “national security concerns”.
The order was the third time the Trump administration had revoked permits or halted work on wind farms that had already received federal approval while offering little legal justification for doing so, following actions against wind projects in New York and Idaho. Legal experts say that there is little basis for blocking projects that have already received permits.
“There’s no upside for anyone to this decision,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, “the economy’s going to be hurt. Consumers are going to see prices go up.There’s massive economic waste in stalling this project that is so nearly concluded”. Katie Dykes, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said at a news conference that if Revolution Wind was interrupted, “we will have an elevated risk of rolling blackouts impacting our region.”
Ørestad, the Danish renewable energy company behind the 65-turbine project had said it was on track to generate enough electricity for more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut by next spring. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut challenged the construction halt saying, “They have offered no facts to justify this lawless, reckless decision.”
Last month the Trump administration halted construction on Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion wind farm off New London, Conn.
Union leaders responded that more than 1,200 jobs could be affected by the stopping of Revolution Wind. On September 4, Ørestad sued the Trump administration, saying the government’s move to halt the nearly finished wind farm was unlawful and “issued in bad faith”.
The Trump administration has signaled in a court filing that it next plans to rescind federal approvals for yet another wind farm, the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which had not yet begun construction but would consist of up to 114 wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City, Md.
In April, the Interior Department suddenly ordered that work be stopped at Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm off the coast of Long Island that had received all necessary approvals from the Biden administration and was already being built. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed that the project’s permits had been rushed and that scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had uncovered flaws in the approval process. Finally in response to a Freedom of Information Act demand and threats of a lawsuit, the project was allowed to proceed. No “flaws in the approval process”, if any, have been made public.
Wind turbines now provide more than 10 percent of the nation’s electricity and in Iowa, it’s the largest source of electricity. Along with solar power installations, on shore wind farms can be produced more quickly than other forms of electrical power.
After decades of relatively steady demand, electricity consumption is soaring, driven by the rise of artificial intelligence, the electrification of homes and transportation and an uptick in domestic manufacturing. The Trump administration’s campaign against the wind power industry is jeopardizing a growing source of energy at a time when the country is in need of additional electricity.
As part of his “Big, Beautiful Bill,” the law that President Trump signed on July 4 ending tax incentives for wind and solar projects is expected to drive up electricity bills across the U.S., with some of the sharpest increases in Republican-led states. Without tax credits, the cost of wind and solar plants will go up. Companies are likely to respond by building fewer of those projects, and those facilities that do come online will have bigger price tags. As that happens, the country is expected to generate more electricity from natural gas plants, which are more expensive than wind and solar projects.
Recently, President Trump has instructed at least six of his cabinet secretaries to get their agencies to find reasons to shut down offshore wind projects; so far no attempted justifications have worked including Robert Kennedy Jr’s suggestion that undersea cables from the turbines back to shore were devastating fish and whales.
The unjustified delays are causing significant layoffs and disinvestment which are sure to result in higher energy costs for everyone. even if the wind power industry fully recovers. Despite the obvious benefits of proceeding full speed ahead with wind, solar, and other benign forms of power, the United States is being led by President Trump’s misguided pique and irrational action.
Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.
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