We should tell them that large investors are putting the squeeze on Knight Ridder (parent company of The Sun News) in an unprecedented fashion and that might lead to a sale or breakup of the nation's second-largest newspaper chain - which would have an unknown effect on places like the Grand Strand - or that it might not lead to anything at all.

We should tell them that front-line journalists feel hamstrung by corporate considerations, that corporate executives are struggling with unreal Wall Street expectations and that those realities, combined with emerging alternative media, are reshaping how we do our job.

We should tell them that we have opinions - each and every one of us - on every topic imaginable; that many of us lean to the left, others to the right; that many of us go to church, many don't; that we, too, Monday-morning quarterback our work. We should tell them that serious journalists do their jobs in ways that counteract personal biases to present relevant stories and as many relevant sides as possible.

Sometimes we still get it wrong. Sometimes there are those in our ranks we wish weren't. We often disagree among ourselves about which stories are chosen for the front page and how they are written and displayed.

We cringe and grow angry when journalists such as former CBS News producer Mary Mapes say it isn't our job to verify information before publication.

We should tell them that biases are a two-way street. Yes, readers have biases, too. If they aren't careful, those biases can color how they view the news we produce just as much as our biases can taint how it's delivered. The only winners then would be those who crave propaganda more than unflinching truth.

We should tell them that we, too, are experiencing double-digit annual increases in health insurance costs, that we struggle to balance work and home life, that most of us have lives not dissimilar from their own.

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