The chief of the Tilton Police Department has announced his intention to retire on Jan. 31 after 39 years in law enforcement and 14 years as Tilton’s police chief. Robert Cormier also served as a leader of the Central New Hampshire Special Operations Group and the New Hampshire Chiefs of Police Association, and worked with Special Olympics and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The Tilton Board of Selectmen has named Captain Ryan Martin as interim police chief, effective on Feb. 1.
Monday Reflections
With Chief Cormier’s retirement and Franklin Mayor Tony Giunta’s recent resignation, not to mention the earlier retirement of Richard Mann from the Belmont Police Department, I think back to the many people who have served their communities whom I met during my four-plus decades as a news reporter. That, in turn, has led me to reflect on how much reporting itself has changed over the years.
When I first got involved with the Bristol Enterprise in 1970 — starting on the ground floor as an apprentice printer — it was not uncommon for newspaper publishers to also get involved in politics. By the time I stepped through the door of the Spring Street office, previous Enterprise publishers had also made their marks in the New Hampshire Legislature: Bowdoin Plumer had served as a state representative and Edward Bennett had served two terms in the New Hampshire Senate. Ed later served two terms as a state representative and for a time was the state’s director of Economic and Industrial Development. Marjorie Field, The Enterprise’s editor and publisher when I joined the paper, served as a State Prison trustee.
Later, during my final years at The Enterprise and the first few years at the daily Laconia Citizen, I was serving on the Bristol Budget Committee and served on the committee that built the case for a new high school, leading to the construction of Newfound Regional High School in 1987. The founder of The Citizen, Edward Gallagher, was a former Laconia mayor.
It was understood that service to the state and community could not interfere with the integrity of the news coverage. A paper could publish editorials that reflected a particular point of view, but the news stories had to fairly present both of sides of the political spectrum.
When Foster’s Daily Democrat purchased The Citizen, the new owners were concerned enough about the integrity of their product that they discouraged public participation by their reporters. It was an alien view to me, but one shared by most large daily newspapers, and I did not run for re-election to the budget committee when my term expired in 1992.
After leaving The Citizen, while editing the Franklin-Tilton Telegram, I did venture into a few outside pursuits. I took on a part-time position as executive director of the Newfound Region Chamber of Commerce in 1995 and from 1995 to 1997 also served on the boards of the Newfound Area Nursing Association and the New Hampshire Press Association — the latter, of course, being an “appropriate” place for a journalist to serve.
Then things got just too busy for outside pursuits as I became owner of The Telegram and followed up with a second stint at The Citizen and moved on to the Union Leader and the Laconia Daily Sun after that.
Throughout my career, the separation between opinion and news coverage was a clear dividing line. If my coverage brought praise from both sides, or more telling, if it angered both sides without them being able to show I was inaccurate, I was sure I was doing something right. People may not like the news they hear, but it is important for them to trust it.
That’s what changed so radically in recent years. Blame social media, blame conspiracy theorists, blame Donald Trump, but suddenly trust was gone and well-documented facts were labeled “fake news.” With Trump’s election as president, journalists everywhere began debating how to handle his manipulation of the facts.
Personally, I think the media chose the wrong response. I have always believed that even those with opinions I believe are wrong have some truth at the core of their beliefs. Over the past year, I have found that is not always the case: Some people out there have totally lost touch with reality. And I believe the media’s new approach to the news is partly to blame.
Taking an antagonistic approach to people — particularly delusional people — never works, but that is how the press dealt with Trump and the disaffected Americans. Instead of investigating their complaints, the media dismissed their concerns, usually with phrases like “unproven claims.” The media treated them as if they were “the deplorables” that Hillary Clinton viewed them to be. By attacking and ridiculing everything that Trump said, rather than going ahead and investigating issues and reporting what the truth was, the media pushed the president further into conspiracies and he took his followers with him.
I believe in the old breed of journalism — the Walter Cronkites who reported, “That’s the way it is.” Today, news is controlled by the entertainment industry or journalists who believe they hold the monopoly on the truth. Those who truly seek to present the facts — the Edward Snowdons and the Julian Assanges, for example — are labeled traitors, and reliable journalists who simply report the news are drowned by the voices of talk show hosts looking for great ratings.
Better to stick to the facts and look to help the community, I believe.
The Mail Bag
Praise is rare, but I have received a couple of notes from readers which I’ll share here:
Hi Tom
Just wanted to drop a line to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your article about our little club. Nicely done!
Ross Currier-President
Sandwich Sidehillers Winter Trail Club
Tom Caldwell is a consistently good writer whom I have followed off and on for more than thirty years.
Mary Elizabeth Nordstrom
www.classicalmusicnotes.com
By The Way…
Lest anyone notice that I share a name with a leader of the Oath Keepers, please note my middle initial. I am not the Thomas Edward Caldwell who was arrested following the attack on the United States Capitol. That Thomas Caldwell was one of three suspected members of the anti-government militia charged last Tuesday with conspiracy, conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, unlawful entry into a restricted building, and violent entry or disorderly conduct. The government complaint identifies him as having a leadership role in the organization which believes the government is infringing on citizens’ rights and recruits from military and law enforcement members. The other two arrested at that time were Jessica Marie Watkins and Donovan Crowl.
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