About forty years ago when I was just starting out as a would-be journalist, our university tutor put a question to our class of fledgling newsroom workers: how do you ensure fairness in reporting?
As inexperienced beginners, most of us fumbled through answers about showing different sides or giving people the chance to respond.
The advice—from a teacher who had once managed the newsdesk at the Sunday Times under the renowned Harold Evans—came as quite a revelation to us young trainees who were already working at local newspapers while attending occasional block release courses for our journalism qualifications.
When one person says it is raining while another maintains it is sunny, your job is not merely to report both statements; you need to look out the window yourself and establish what the weather is actually doing.
At that time, I held this particular teacher in great esteem. Only much later did I discover it was actually an unattributed maxim that had been floating around journalistic circles since the 1940s.
Nonetheless, having built a career on never creating an original thought myself, that did not stop me from using it many years later when training junior reporters.
You may be wondering what this old-timer is going on about this week.
Well, this week’s piece examines the difference between opinion and reality.
This constitutes my regular opinion column offering my thoughts on Newport. You are free to disagree. Other perspectives certainly exist.
However, I endeavour to back up my opinions with evidence.
One fact about Newport, despite much debate, is that it holds city status.
It received this designation when the late Queen Elizabeth II granted the honour during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of 2002, together with Preston, Stirling, Lisburn, and Newry.
The difference—essentially nothing more than a title—was marked that year through a royal visit to Newport.
In her speech that day, Her Majesty referred to the newly-designated city as a place where communities flourish and diversity is evident.
I recognise some readers will be irritated.
You will contend Newport does not deserve city status, that it remains a town according to your thinking, or that the designation ought to be revoked.
That is fine. Different viewpoints deserve recognition. Yet opinions are not the same as facts.
The fact remains that Newport is a city. Challenging this is akin to claiming the Earth is flat.
I was Deputy Editor at the Argus in 2002 and took pride that we played a small part in the campaign that secured city status.
Admittedly, Newport has significant problems, and we must never overlook them.
Yet the city also has considerable assets, and occasionally, it is worth showing some civic pride.
Kevin Ward works as a media and management consultant in Newport and formerly held the position of Editor at the South Wales Argus. All views expressed in this opinion piece are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect any organisation with which he is connected. Kevin receives no payment for this column.