Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:25 PM

OUR VIEW: Weekly Editorial For Week Of July 17, 2017 - Welcome To The Great Smoky Mountain News Journal!

Our vision here is very simple and that is to inform you of what is going on across East Tennessee, the Region, the Nation and the World. In addition, the site will include other areas of interest such as lifestyles, health, business, faith, entertainment, science and tech, and general happenings to keep things lively. It will be a great source for the latest weather and alerts when severe weather threatens our area.

We hope to give you some things to ponder as we seek to promote an aggressive editorial view and opinion that we know and hope will, if nothing else, cause our readers to think and ponder what is going on in their world.

If something we say here makes you react - even if it makes you mad or upset, then chances are we've actually fulfilled our goal as a news outlet. News stories are facts. Opinion pages are just that - the thoughts and ideas of others and let's face it, people don't always agree with each other's opinion every single time.

We respect the debate and discourse of differing views and welcome those type comments. We do hope however that as we respect your view, you will respect ours and keep the discourse civil and to the point at hand. That's where the nation at large has lost its way over the past few years. We can no longer disagree among ourselves without become hateful, violent and vulgar to each other. That is a national tragedy.

The world of newspapers has changed so much since I first wrote for the Thomasville-Times Enterprise nearly 27 years ago.

Back then the print editions reached only county wide with a few exceptions here or there of those who got the paper by mail. Now with the advent of online media the news is world wide in seconds and newspapers like this one no longer just touch a few counties, we touch the world.

We take this responsibility very seriously and hope we remain true to our goal and vision to report all things accurate and in doing so garner your trust and faith that you will always have a source to report things right no matter.

The world at large is a very dangerous and volatile one. But it also is one filled with hope that those who lead us in government and other institutions will tell the truth about things even if the truth goes against the grain of their opinion. News is news and should never be slanted to embrace the bias of those reporting it. This has led to many long time news outlets facing major crisis over the past six months and watching their demise has been sad in many ways.

Our opinions here will be based on facts not speculation but they will be conservative in nature on many issues. I've always leaned a little right of center on most issues but have always approached any issue with an open mind before casting my stones of thought. That is the ultimate goal of this site!

So, buckle up, get your thinking caps on, and join us for a journey of information as this site is launched. We appreciate your trust in us already by visiting this site and reading this welcome editorial, which is our first. The site is a work in progress. Please be patient with us as we get things together over the next few weeks in lieu of a full fledged launch come August 1hopefully, the Lord willing.

We again welcome your comments and thoughts about the paper and my "door", so to speak,  is open anytime to discuss anything you read here. Our email is chris@smokymtnjournal.com or news@smokymtnjournal.com and we look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome aboard! Let's have some fun in our journey together!

God Bless

Christopher McDonald, General Publisher, Editor

The Great Smoky Mountain Journal