Journalists and Politicians #311 By Hank Silverberg Commentary The growing plethora of partisan "news" agencies and the growing number of news deserts across the country have combined to take away one of the major roles of journalists--as a balance against secretive government or unresponsive elected officials. (The 1st Amendment) On the national scene, cable and streaming on the internet has allowed just about anyone to claim to be a journalist, even though they do not know the rules of journalism or the non-partisan nature of the traditional profession. Real journalists, those trained in the profession and dedicated to nonpartisan reporting, need to better define who they are and why they exist. Meanwhile, in small towns and large sparsely populated counties almost everywhere, local government pretty much does whatever those elected to office want without public scrutiny or transparency, and are often influenced by small groups of activists with self