When I started at the Kirkland Reporter in 2009, I wrote an introductory column about why I became a journalist. I talked about finding news clippings written on my grandfather’s exploits as a regional sports figure following his death. It made me want to tell other people’s stories so maybe someday someone else would learn about their grandfather’s accomplishments. During the past eight years, though, journalism became so much more to me through telling Kirkland’s story.

I am moving on and leaving my Kirkland and Bothell/Kenmore Reporter family. I say family because the people I have worked with past and present are good people. You don’t do what we do if you don’t believe in the free press and free speech. My last day as regional editor was April 27.

Journalism has changed so much during my nearly two decades in the profession. However, one thing has stayed the same —­ it is the embodiment of free speech. There is a lot about the media that is getting lost in our vitriol about who does and doesn’t agree with how we see the world.

First of all, journalists make mistakes, just like you. However, the sign of a good media organization is whether they dedicate the space or time to correct those mistakes.

Second, journalists can only report what they know and what they can confirm. Some sources lie and some withhold information. This does not make the reporter biased. Third, journalism is supposed to be a third party look at what is new. Today, with all of the access to that media there are more eyes and more accountability than at any other time in our history. And finally, it always needs to be taken with a grain of salt no matter the source because of the reasons listed above. Don’t be a lazy citizen. Read what you “trust” and then read another story on the same subject from a completely different media organization with an open mind. Throughout the history of the free press in this country there has been inherent bias in journalism. The biggest problem with journalism these days is not bias. The biggest issue is the dwindling sources to compare information.

I can’t stand it when I hear someone say, “I get all my news from just this one source.”

The media is a place to get information and it is a vital part of our democracy.

As regional editor, I have tried to make sure that anyone in the community who wanted to exercise their rights could use our paper to share those ideas — as long as they signed the letter and abided by our simple rules. I have published letters and columns espousing conservatism, liberalism, libertarianism, socialism and many other -isms. We have printed letters that criticized the local, state and federal government. I have also published every letter that I received that criticized my work or the paper. There have been many times I have scrapped my own editorial so I could fit in all or most of the letters we received. I truly wanted this paper to be yours, and residents have responded.

Something has changed during the past few years. There are an increasing number of people every day who don’t listen to the other side at all. We yell at each other. We regurgitate what we hear other people say without thinking critically about it first.

One of the things I am most proud of are the complaints of bias. I can’t tell you how many times I have received a letter to the editor, private email or phone call blasting the paper for being too liberal or too conservative. The reason I am proud is that it comes equally from both sides – and sometimes on the same exact story or issue of the paper.

The impact of social media on our democracy is not the downfall of the free press. The free press will stand the test of time in one way or another and the Kirkland Reporter and Bothell-Kenmore Reporter are a testament of that. The biggest impact is on our inability to listen to ideas and facts that are outside of our comfort zone or what we believe is true. The echo chamber that is social media makes us ignorant to conflicting and sometimes better ideas.

If all of this sounds familiar it is because I have written this before in editorials. However, it is the lasting message I want people to think about when they consume news or social media.

Matt Phelps is the former regional editor of the Kirkland and Bothell-Kenmore Reporter newspapers.