We feel it is a privilege to share with you the facts and expose false rumors about covid-19.

Too much of the latter is swirling around social media.

At the Chronicle, we feel this is an opportunity for local newspapers, radio and TV to show why accurate news and responsible journalism cannot be replaced by social media.

Facebook and other social media blend views, feelings and ill-informed opinions with fake news and rumors, then spread them like a digital virus.

Local journalists must show why trustworthy information is crucial to all of us and our republic. All of us need the best obtainable version of the truth.

We need to print facts, uncover problems and find potential solutions to our challenges.

For example, we asked state health officials to report positive cases by age, gender and Lexington County community – but without names. We feel you are entitled to this information.

A Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesperson said state privacy laws prevent that. Do you agree such information should be public?

This is not like China where it was 2 months before most of the Chinese people or the outside world found out that people were dying. But we feel such information should be public.

A respected editor we worked with years ago shared his vision of a newspaper that helped explain to its readers what is going on in a complicated world.

His vision was of a newspaper that cared about its readers and their concerns, a newspaper that did not hold them at arm’s length but embraced them.

We report on crises and disasters not as the end of the world but about individuals, emergency workers, public officials, care givers and how they come together to deal with it.

We feel privileged to be able to report on this momentous moment in human history with passion and purpose – and to be doing it for you.

For your own feelings about this and other concerns, email us at JerryBellune@yahoo.com

We feel privileged to report on this momentous moment in human history for you..