What is the job of a journalist/reporter?

I grew up in Portsmouth, and still live and vote there.  I have never really followed Tiverton's politics because, in truth, it seemed too messy.  There is only one candidate I ever backed in the Tiverton elections (by backing, I mean, I cheered her on).  In the 2012 election, she was the top vote getter.  Every once in a while, she would tell me what was going on in the political scene, but again, the whole situation bothered me.  My late father served on the Portsmouth Town Council for 8 years, and I never remembered it being so nasty.

Fast forward to February of this year, when the aforementioned Tiverton politician asked me to speak in front of the RI Senate Finance Committee Hearing on the Sakonnet River Bridge tolls.  Because my husband and I use the bridge frequently for his numerous doctors' visits, tests, scans, etc., and to visit both sides of our families, she felt that my story would add value to the other testimony.  Four of us traveled together to the hearing (three from Tiverton); we sat together, and all of us spoke.  Because I am a writer/journalist by profession, I knew my words would resonate.  But I was surprised to be quoted in two local papers.  So, being a hidden publicity hound, I went online to see what else was written about the hearing (or me).  I found a site that seem to cover the entire hearing, but, much to my surprise, the four of us who traveled together received no mention.  At the end, as sort of a Post Script, two of my fellow travelers were named as attending, since both were Tiverton officials.  When I contacted this so-called reporter, I was told that he only commented on notable people and compelling stories.  I had never heard of this man, but come to find out, he was a losing candidate in the 2012 election and was not fond of my three friends.  As a former reporter, I was very shocked, because I was taught that a responsible journalist was objective, never letting personal feeling get in the way of the real story. Otherwise, one must consider his/her writing "commentary."

Now, we take another leap forward to Celebrate Tiverton, a wonderful event organized to bring Tiverton citizens together as one community.  The dedicated volunteers worked very hard to keep politics out of the weekend, because Tiverton politics had been so divisive in the past.  I personally knew three of the event sponsors, and they are all staunch Republicans.  But they believe in the philosophy behind the celebration: uniting the community.  Unfortunately, the skunks came to the lawn party.  A political crony of the ersatz "reporter" tried to bring things to a halt by protesting the fact that the town had published the event schedule on the community website.  During the same time period, the "reporter" wrote a "political analysis" that tried to build a link between the IRS, the event, and politics.  He even went as far as to look into the background of the IRS employee who worked on the event during his own time. Again, I was horrified by someone trying to pass this off as journalism.  Maybe "The National Enquirer" will finally call him.

Tiverton deserves better.  I attended the parade, and did not see one political sign nor one political button (another of the losing candidate's attempts to hurt the town's integrity). This man and his cohorts owe the town and its citizens an apology for attempting to politicize a great event organized by great people. Shame on you!