This newspaper has been a member of the California News Publishers Association for years. The thrust and intent of the CNPA is quality journalism that reports the news.
The advent of the internet has made access to news much faster, cheaper, and less trustworthy.
So, with convenience comes the caveat that all “news” is not true, accurate or honest.
Anyone with a computer can set up a website, create a blog and call themselves a “news” source.
We have even seen that in Santa Clara.
It has been rumored that traditional newspapers are dying, and the only remaining ones will be online electronic versions providing news instantly. That has turned out to be a bad rumor as well as inaccurate.
Fact: There are approximately 150 print newspapers in California still printing the news, both daily and weekly.
Proudly, The Weekly does not create news, invent stories or distort facts. Our writers are committed to quality journalism by telling the truth, explaining the facts and verifying information that we print, both in paper and online at svvoice.com.
Criticism arises when some people do not agree with the real news. We see this most often during elections and in the arena of political behavior. When The Weekly exposes the truth, our writers are called names and our newspaper is referred to as a “rag,” or some similar expression.
When mainline newspapers pick up our stories, verify our reporting, fact check our news and print their own version, we know we are doing our job. Fortunately, this is happening more often since we have so many news-making stories to cover in Santa Clara.
Certainly, the internet has impacted traditional reporting and writing. It costs a lot of money to print publications, and it costs even more for investigative journalism. It is hard work to be a good reporter. It takes hours of research, diligent analysis, attention to detail, all without bias to tell it like it really is. We appreciate our subscribers who understand and support real news.
It costs virtually nothing for a blogger to throw up a news blog and “report” the “news” with their biased or predisposed position.
Most of us know this is not news.
Real journalism is the difference between eating a full pie and nibbling on the crust. Digital headlines give you the crust of a topic, while written, factual details provide the filling.
The Santa Clara Weekly is recognized by our peers as a bona fide, certified newspaper in California and the official newspaper of record for the City of Santa Clara.
While some current elected representatives dismiss our paper as not having value, what is written is the truth based on careful analysis and reporting of the facts.
Factual reporting should never be confused with opinion. Everyone has an opinion — but reported work, written by our reporters, rely totally on the facts present, researched, uncovered and available.
This attention to truth, facts and detail separates our newspaper from digital fabrication.
Happy news year.