Once upon a time (I write, since the Butler Eagle is so fond of fairy tales) there was an expectation that local newspapers were the voice of the community, a beacon of truth, and a place where facts and figures were debated, not opinion in the form of fake news and references to “settled science.”

For over a year, the Butler Eagle has taken every opportunity, whether with establishment columnists of either party (I guess no locals are allowed to write), with countless biased pieces taken from the Associated Press, with scarcely believable letters from all locales, with a mindset completely opposite its stated efforts to be a voice of moderation, but always with a slant against President-elect Donald Trump.

Along the way, the Eagle has proven to be one more outlet for politically driven journalism, of which 90 percent or more are in support of a specific political party. We’ve read opinions without merit, without basis in reality, and with an ongoing tone of condescension to anything not of the liberal persuasion. In the eyes of this mindset: peaceful protesters against the genocide of abortion must be regulated by law, while violent and paid rioters are encouraged; science is a buzzword created by groupthink of paid researchers, not proven fact; and religious extremism of a certain segment of the population is ignored, while the phobia of God-fearing, Constitution-loving, taxed-enough-already American citizens are in full display.

Not so ironically, the Eagle finds itself in a county that went, in every precinct, to the man they trashed the most. Is the Eagle ignorant of the values of its citizens? Is the newspaper indifferent and indignant to those values? Or is it just ineffective in its fake news and propaganda?

A more appropriate name for this newspaper should be the Dodo, since it is as relevent to modern information and news providing and truth as that flightless bird was over three centuries ago.