Do I make you angry?

Benjamin Franklin gets a lot of press for being one of this country’s Founding Fathers, or for tying a key to a kite during a lightning storm or for inexplicably supporting the wild turkey over the bald eagle as the symbol of the United States. He gets far less attention, it seems, for his role in the early development of American newspapers.
Maybe it’s because I was out of the country the year most students in my high school studied American history, or maybe I just never paid much attention, but until last weekend I knew next to nothing about Franklin’s role as a newspaperman. He did not publish the country’s first newspaper, but his Pennsylvania Gazette, which he founded after ending an apprenticeship with his older brother, James, is, according to Infamous Scribblers, Eric Burns’ history of the beginnings of journalism in America, one of the first respectable publications in the country.
I mention this because, according to Burns, Franklin published an essay in 1731 that does a pretty good job of defining the role of newspapers from the Washington Post to the Farmington Independent. He intended it, he wrote, to be “a standing Apology for my self.”
As quoted in Burns’ book Franklin asked those who disagreed with or were angered by something he printed to consider the following:
“1. That the Opinions of Men are almost as various as their Faces….
“2. That the Business of Printing has chiefly to do with Mens Opinions; most things that are printed tending to promote some, or oppose others.
“3. That hence arises the peculiar Unhappiness of that Businesss ... they who follow printing being scarce able to do any thing in their way of getting a Living, which shall probably not give Offence to some, and perhaps to many; whereas the Smith, the Shoemaker, the Carpenter or the Man of any other Trade may work indifferently for People of all Persuasions, without offending any of them….
“4. That it is unreasonable in any one Man or Set of Men to be expected to be pleased with every thing that is printed, as to think that nobody ought to be pleased but themselves….
“8. That if all printers were determined not to print any Thing until they were sure it would offend no Body, there would be very little printed.”
In other words, Franklin told his readers that if they read his newspaper long enough he was bound to make them mad. The same can be said of this newspaper. At least, I hope it can.
Maybe I should clarify: It is never our goal to make our readers angry. That would be irresponsible and unprofessional. But with so much happening around us we are bound to touch on some sensitive subjects.
Our readers, we hope, have opinions about things like the site of the new Farmington High School or the superintendent’s contract or the state of business in downtown Farmington. And while we believe our news reporting is free from our own opinions and as balanced as possible, there are bound to be items that hit a nerve with one reader or another.
Cover enough sensitive subjects, and we are certain to upset one person or another. It is not something we strive for, but neither is it something we can shy away from and still believe we are doing our jobs to the best of our ability.
So, yes. Sometimes we make people mad at us. We know there are readers who believe we cover some subjects too much and others not enough. Sometimes those readers let us know how they feel. More often, they don’t.
We don’t mind the criticism. We wouldn’t last long in this business if we did. But too often small-town newspapers have a reputation for being the Polyannas of the journalism world: focusing on good news to the exclusion of anything that would rub someone the wrong way and serving always as cheerleaders and rarely as critics. We believe on balance our pages contain more good news than bad, but we also believe we cannot shy away from the bad when it is there to be reported.
I guess what I’m asking is, the next time you read something in this paper that really gets your blood boiling, stop for a minute and think of Ben Franklin’s message.
If that doesn’t work, imagine how ridiculous a turkey would look on the back of a dollar bill.