Rettke: Know your news before you vote

Have you read up on election candidates in your community before you head to the polls April 1? Be sure to check out our 2025 Daily Chronicle Voter Guide to learn more about candidates’ platforms.

At the DeKalb City Council meeting this week, 4th Ward Alderman Greg Perkins said he believed misinformation on the internet surrounding what appears to be a local hot topic this election season was allowed to spread due to “an absence of media.”

Some of his City Council colleagues expressed sharp concern when a social media post – as it is want to do – spread falsehoods online. The lie was spun to make some election candidates look better over others, also a common practice in today’s political climate.

Alderman Perkins asked questions like “How do we get at what’s the news?” “What’s real?” and “How does a good message get to the people?” He said “limited” local press means taxpayers bear the burden of seeking the truth.

Does Alderman Perkins know that there is a consistent and legitimate news presence in this community? You’re reading it. We bear that burden, too. And take it seriously.

Daily Chronicle staff have covered local government since the beginning. The paper has been around since 1879. Our reporters cover government, education and business news, crime, social issues, state and national news and its local impact. We’ve provided print, digital, video and podcast coverage of many contested election races this spring. You can see more here.

Ample information is out there for DeKalb voters to scour before they head to the polls. I know because we reported it.

DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Tasha Sims said recently that the 2023 consolidated election saw a 10% voter turnout. In 2021 – when many mayors were elected – DeKalb County voter turnout was 14.6%. These races often are won by a margin of a few votes.

That’s pretty abysmal when you consider that just a handful of people are deciding major things like who runs your cities, how your tax dollars are spent, what programs are funded or how your public schools are run.

We can help with that. Our reporting focused on races where voters face a choice. We invited candidates to fill out questionnaires, participate in video interviews where we asked topical questions. We covered live forums.

We also are still fortunate to have WNIJ Radio. Professionally trained local journalists at these outlets consistently report relevant, timely, unbiased and, most importantly, accurate news.

How do we weed out fact from fiction? Interrogate your information sources. Is it a social media post using inflammatory or hyperbolic language, not citing sources or quoting people out of context? Worse, is it proffering opinion as fact? Campaign websites, mailers, etc. tend to do the same.

We also know social media platforms intentionally use algorithms to hide news from appearing in people’s feeds. Those same algorithms work to platform biased narratives. Social media feeds you what you want to see. It validates opinions, whether factual or not, and works to intentionally hide the truth. And then it carefully constructs a digital experience tailored to your mindset.

So, how do we combat this? Stop giving it power in the first place. Stop engaging, stop responding, stop sharing, stop liking or commenting on inflammatory posts. I have found attempts at discourse on these platforms often a fruitless endeavor.

Instead, we try to focus our energies on what we can do: Fact check by reporting, you know, facts. We conduct interviews, do our own research. We report news to hold people to account, keep the public informed, safe and educated on things that impact their everyday lives. You can find news in print or on our website. You can sign up for text alerts and our email newsletters. You can read our 2025 Daily Chronicle Voter Guide.

Social media isn’t real life. Just because voices are loud online doesn’t necessarily mean they’re reflective of what everyone in town believes.

However, it doesn’t help when elected officials use their public platform to cast doubt over whether any reputable and dependable news source exists in this community. It does. We are right here. We haven’t left. We all have a job to do.

Read up on your candidates using sources that report fact. A vote may seem like a small step, but it matters, especially in small elections like this.

I hope you vote by Tuesday. I hope you remember that you have the ability to contribute to positive change in your community.

• Kelsey Rettke is the editor of the Daily Chronicle and can be reached at krettke@shawmedia.com.