Actually, Facts Really Do Matter

by admin | December 19, 2025 7:27 am

I recently received an anonymous email from a reader of my Capital Highlights column, which I have been writing for about five years for the Texas Press Association. It runs weekly in about 100 Texas newspapers. I am the latest in a half-dozen or so writers of this column, which possibly began in the 1940s. No one is quite sure. The premise of Capital Highlights is simple. I comb the state’s major news outlets, state government agency news releases, and other legitimate sources for items of interest to readers. It is primarily published in smaller newspapers that do not subscribe to a wire service, such as Associated Press. I do very little original reporting. Mainly, I rewrite and condense what has already been reported, always attributing the source. That’s it.

Here is part of what the unhappy, anonymous writer had to say: I stand against your claim of award-winning journalist. You are not a journalist. You are an activist, plain and simple. Get another job.  

The writer objected to my reporting that the subsidies provided for folks using the Affordable Care Act would expire at year’s end if the GOP-controlled majority in Congress refused to extend them. Older Texans, in partic[1]ular, will be hardest hit, and premiums in general will rise by an average of 35%. That is a fact, as the Austin American-Statesman[2] reported. The anonymous writer is not a fan of ACA and accused me of promoting “this failed healthcare experiment.” He also suggested I keep my “Trump Derangement” to myself.

I sent the email to my Beautiful Mystery Companion under the subject heading, “Fan mail.” She was upset someone was being rude to me. Not me. More than half a century of being a journalist has toughened my skin. My first reaction was to laugh out loud. Since it was sent anonymously, I did not reply directly. When I ran newspapers, anonymous letters to the editor were tossed in the wastebasket. I continue to adhere to that principle.

Longtime readers of this space know I have strong opinions about the despicable human occupying the Oval Office, whom I refer to as President Orange Skin — POS for short. If you disagree with that characterization, read here[3] what he said after the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner and get back to me. This space is mine, where I write about whatever I wish. (The pay sucks.) You are free to read it or not, to disagree or not.

The Capital Highlights column is a different beast. I get paid to write it, carefully avoid inserting my opinion, and summarize what has already been reported objectively elsewhere. Since I began writing Capital Highlights, I avoid venturing my opinion in other writing pieces  about any state official or agency that I might be covering as a journalist. When I make a mistake, I admit it publicly in a later column. In five years, it has happened twice.

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One of my favorite new T-shirts came from Red River Radio, the NPR network for this region. I have been recording weekly commentaries for them for 13 years and have supported them financially since the first station went on the air in 1984. (Also unpaid, but I am happy to contribute). I rarely ask for one of the “premiums” offered to supporters, since I already have plenty of T-shirts, coffee mugs, and umbrellas with the RRR logo. However, I emailed the membership director to request this shirt. It says: Because Facts Matter. Dark blue fabric with bold white sans-serif font.

Damn straight, facts matter. Now more than ever. We are besieged by lies spouted in this country at a level not seen in the 250 years of our independence, led by POS and filtering through his lackies. For example, the most unqualified secretary of defense in our nation’s history instituted such restrictions on the Pentagon press corps — essentially prior restraint — that nearly all of them declined to accept them. The “real” journalists are still reporting, of course, just from outside the Pentagon. Inside the building now are what commentator Alex Wagner calls “stenographers,” fringe folks like Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz. Those two are no more journalists than I am a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.

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What is keeping our teetering democracy upright despite this relentless assault are the two “J”s — the judiciary and journalism. POS has been stymied repeatedly; unfortunately, the Supreme Court appears to be mainly in his oversized pockets. But many of this administration’s more outrageous actions have been stopped by an independent judiciary.

Great journalism continues to shine a light on such misdeeds as the double strike on a boat in the Caribbean, which was murder. The New York Times remains the greatest newspaper in the world. Magazines such as The Atlantic and The New Yorker both thrive and inform. There are fine nonprofit sites out there — ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, Fort Worth Report, Texas Standard, to name a few that I listen to or read daily. Great journalism podcasts abound as well.

Journalists are doing their best to speak truth to power. The fact that some folks object to reporting that runs counter to their preconceived notions — such as my anonymous writer — should not deter anyone who practices this craft.

Journalism is a craft, at whatever level it is practiced, whether at a small East Texas weekly or at a major metro. There are rules to be followed, an obligation to explain whatever is being covered as thoroughly as possible. We fall short all the time. To paraphrase NPR’s latest slogan, “We may not get it right the first time, but we won’t stop until we do.”

Getting accused of being an “activist” is one of the milder insults hurled at me over 50 years of doing this, albeit just part-time these days. It goes with the territory.

Because facts matter.

Source URL: https://garyborders.com/pages/actually-facts-really-do-matter/

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