The hard way’s still the best

In the sphere of national holidays, Labor Day is one of the more paradoxical. I mean, it’s a day honoring the American labor movement that most people celebrate by taking the day off.

I think it’s also reasonable to suppose a fair number of the white-collar folks who enjoyed the three-day weekend have little or no love for the labor movement because they equate it with organized labor, which is the reputed enemy of net profitability and organizational stability.

Then there are those who might have been able appreciate the historic contributions of labor reformers but couldn’t because they were otherwise occupied at retail and hospitality jobs serving middle managers and executives celebrating a holiday they don’t necessarily even agree with.

Me, I was at work — not necessarily because I had to be, but because I didn’t want to drag any staff writers in here on a holiday to babysit today’s edition if I could avoid it. I’d rather have them here when there’s actually someone around to take their phone calls.

Back in 1993, Alexander B. Brook authored a book on his experiences as owner, publisher and editor of the weekly York County Coast Star newspaper in Kennebunk, Maine. It was called, “The Hard Way: The Odyssey of a Weekly Newspaper Editor.”

The title of the book describes Brook’s approach to the news business — working day and night, tackling controversial stories and refusing to bow to financial and political pressure. Over the course of 20 years, until he sold the paper in 1978, Brook turned the Star into an award-winning example of why newspapers matter, exposing corruption, taking stands and tackling subjects that might cost loyalty of the occasional advertiser or reader.

At one point, the acronym THWTB started appearing on the Star’s front page. Brock would say it was intended as shorthand for the motto, “The hard way’s the best.” The non-G-rated and more widely accepted translation spelled out a more pointed message: “The hell with the bastards.”

There are days in this business when you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, and either way, somebody is going to try to make you pay for it. That’s not to say newspapers don’t screw up or that we’re all pure and lilywhite, but in my experience, most reporters and editors are interested in being fair and accurate and try to make decisions in the best interests of the community.

Truth isn’t always pretty. Truth isn’t always fair. Truth isn’t always wanted. However, it does have a way wanting to get out there one way or another. Recently an advertiser advised us he was pulling his advertising because we reported information that could possibly cast his business in a negative light. I disagree with that opinion. I don’t think the story will have much impact on the business one way or another, but that’s neither here nor there. Fact is, the story wasn’t going to vanish just because we didn’t report it. What’s more, it figures to be a continuing story over time, in part because of similar businesses that could be impacted.

So we ran with it, and the advertiser exercised his prerogative to pull his ads. But I’m not sitting here today explaining to the community why we didn’t run an important, verifiable story that was already making the rounds on social media.

The hard way’s still the best.