Access for all

A ccording to Sandra O’Connor, the first woman justice of the Supreme Court, “a court’s duty is to interpret laws and test them against the constitution – not to usurp the duties of the legislative and executive branches.” Similarly, this newspaper’s role in the community is to report facts and opinions which reflect the wide spectrwn of interests. Our industry is referred to as a fourth estate, a quasi branch of gov~rnment. Thomas Jefferson went so far as to say, “Given a choice between a government .without a newspaper or a newspaper without a government, I would not hesitate for a moment to choose the latter.” !o fulfill our community responsibility of reporting the news, this newspaper must be accessible both to low-profile groups and the community movers and shakers. !he. ~irst group, which includes the elderly, handicapped, mmorities, youth, and the unborn, often do not get a fair shake because they have difficulty obtaining access to media sources. In contrast, the movers and shakers have no difficulty with media access and are heard from often. In the interest of fairness, I feel it is our responsibility to assist as o~ten ~s we c~ th~e ~orities which find it difficult to get a public voice. This attitude IS part of our commwlity responsibility and does not represent a preference on our part for any particular group or organization.