7:38 a.m.
Friday, January 3, 2020 7:35 am

So whatever happened to reporting the news, anyway?

The latest blasphemy was Thursday's USA Today, which spent a quarter of its front page "explaining" why President Trump isn't guaranteed "due process" in a trial because he knew he could be impeached when he became president and that it was part of the bargain that the possibility existed.

So how bout a bank robber who walks into a bank with a note and a gun and takes off with a wad of cash? Did he or she know full well that a 10-year jail stay was likely if they were caught? But they get due process, and there are plenty of them walking around planning their next heist because they got a good defense lawyer who got them off with a light sentence.

But back to the USA Today story. It ran under a kicker that said - in blue type nonetheless - "USA Today Explains." The color blue is associated with depth, stability, trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith and truth, even heaven, according to a quick Google search.

But back to the kicker. So you've heard of mansplaining, right? Well, I feel "papersplaining" is just as repugnant, especially if it's a male reporter. In this case it was a female reporter, so I guess it's not as repugnant.

But the real point is just report the bleeping news and get out of the way.

Now I have no problem with a paper writing an editorial, that's their right by way of freedom of speech and the press, but don't "papersplain" it to me for gosh sakes. Just state your opinion.

So beware of stories that start off with "Things you need to know" or "What you need to know" or "Here's why this happened" or "USA Today explains". It's all a bunch of hooey.

And if you ever see "The Rochester Voice explains" in a headline, well, just send me a link to this column to refresh my memory.