Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 7-8-21 E-edition

Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
In my OPINION Mainstream media's
decline is self-inflicted
Although there were long-running
signs of incrementalism, journalism
officially committed suicide during
the Donald Trump era as the American
president. It should be crystal clear to
any observer that journalism died of
its own making! Reporters lost sight
of the fact that their job was to let the
public know the who, what, when or
why of their story. They should never
inject their personal beliefs, attitudes and personalities into their reportage. They became a part of the story and that's a categorical no-no.
If anyone has any doubt about the death simply check the ratings of CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC since the election of Joe Biden. Their ratings are in the tank. Circulation of both the New York Times and Washington Post have fallen precipitously. Although they all claim huge gains in their on-line subscribers, surveys indicate that journalism on the internet enjoys very poor reader- ship and even less believability.
Compared to the everyday mauling of Trump, Biden has been treated with kid gloves. The shenanigans of his son, Hunter, have gone unmentioned by the press and unaddressed by the Justice Department. Although Trump has not been in office for almost a half year, it appears the “swamp dwellers” continue to pursue the man and his family with all sorts of spurious allegations. This time we expect a great American backlash!
The Reuters (news wire) Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford recently finished and released the results of an interview with news consumers in 46 coun- tries. The main thrust of the investigative report was to definitively measure the amount of trust citizens had in the honesty and integrity of their local media.
Those of you who attempt to follow the news on a regular basis will not be surprised that the United States media finished dead last with a ranking of number 46 out of a universe of 46 rated countries. There can be little doubt that much of this has been created by the polariza- tion of American politics, but the media themselves are a major part of that polarization.
Many of the media have chosen sides and their cur- rent position has nothing to do with good reportage or reporters who practice real journalism. It's impossible to trust anyone who is not fair and balanced.
While the industry in total managed to garner only 29 percent of following, local news fared slightly better but were besieged with economic issues, making their fu- tures uncertain at best. Strangely enough, most of those readers either were not aware of the financial stress be- ing endured by their local news provider or either didn't care. That's a position that will have consequences.
Interestingly enough, when Trump left the world stage and was replaced by Biden and his progressive “committee,” most of the mainstream media who were considered “the left” watched their viewership and rat- ings suffer a catastrophic drop. That has been particu- larly indicative of what's happening in Atlanta with CNN and their collection of former government officials/re- porters who are detractors of everything Trump.
Perhaps many of you will wonder why I even both- ered to write this column because it, on one hand, ap- pears self-deprecating while at the same time appear to promote small town local journalism. You're reading this because it appears on our Opinion/Editorial page as opposed to straight matter which encompasses that which is reporting. Partisanship is acceptable on the edi- torial page because everyone recognizes it for what it is. When it appears in our news columns, it is blatant and therefore unacceptable.
Democracy demands that the country have a vigor- ous free press. During recent years we, as an industry, have ignored and missed that benchmark.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Fireworks shows great, but the homemade antics are out of hand
Fred Hall — Publisher
Jon Earnest — Editor
Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Thursday, July 8, 2021 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Fred Hall
Fireworks lit the skies near downtown Reedley on July 2, a sight that made many people happy. The show marked the first professionally-run per- mitted display around Fourth of July time in the city in six years — of course, we always enjoy the pyrotechnics during annual graduations in late May and the start of June.
It was also good times in Di- nuba (July 3) and Sanger (July 4) with the return of their re- spective Independence Day Celebration and Fourth of July Spectacular events. Traditions that were derailed in 2020 be- cause of the unprecedented COVID-10 pandemic have re- turned, with many immediately embracing the shows' returns and the social interaction that comes with them.
All that is well and good, but it still grates on me a little to see (and especially hear) the brazen activities of people in- volving illegal fireworks. You know, the kind that go "boom"
in the night out of nowhere; rattling windows, scaring dogs and cats into varying degrees of distress and stirring unsettling memories for many military veterans old and young alike.
Being a pet owner, I braced myself for the expected un- pleasantness to come with the weekend. I kept an open mind and hoped those running le- gal (on paper) family displays where I live in Hanford would go out at dusk and exhaust their supply of pyrotechnics in a relative hurry, and that those with illegal fireworks would play their "dodge a cop" games for no more than three hours or so and wear out by midnight.
And it did die down some- what after 11 p.m., but it was still a relentless stream of blasts, whistles and smoky em- bers filling the air. The good news was, the cities in our re- gion generally seemed to avoid any serious outbreaks of struc- ture fires. To all first respond- ers, a word of thanks.
In particu-
lar, thanks go
out to Reedley
and Sanger po-
lice details that
issued 30 and
20 citations, respectively,
for illegal fire-
works on the Fourth. I yet to receive figures from Dinuba police, but thank them in ad- vance for the efforts they've made to keep things safe and quieter than a war zone.
It could be bad news ahead for those who like to score those illegal explosives and en- joy their holiday thrills (that in some cases extend year-round). As dry conditions and drought continue to deepen around the state, consequences — and most likely citation fines — may very well increase in 2022.
We know July will be increas- ingly hot. I simply wish that it won't be increasingly loud.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
QUOTE
“I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridicu- lous — everyone hasn't met me yet.”
— Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004)
Jon Earnest
Let's fix the Medicare sign-up process
By Janet Trautwein
Guest columnist
Each year, an obscure fed- eral rule forces thousands of seniors to pay penalties for the rest of their lives simply because they made an honest mistake while signing up for Medicare. That number will rise unless Congress modern- izes the program's enrollment process.
Seniors are twice as likely to be working today as in 1985. So more of them have to decide whether to sign up for Medi- care when they become eligi- ble at age 65 or keep their job- based health plan. Making the wrong decision can be costly.
Enrollment in Medicare Part A, which covers hospital care, is automatic and free for most people. But seniors must elect to join Parts B and D, which cover doctor's bills and pre- scription drugs, respectively.
Seniors can postpone sign- ing up for Parts B and D until they stop working, at which point a special enrollment pe- riod begins.
But some of these people may be better suited to stay on their employer-sponsored plans temporarily under the terms of a 1985 law known as COBRA. The law allows people to remain enrolled in an employer-spon- sored plan for up to 18 months after exiting a job, provided they pay the full premium.
Perhaps they've already met their deductible for the year. Or maybe they have a younger spouse still on their health plan. In each case, CO- BRA may be a better option.
Because their employer- sponsored coverage continues seamlessly, these seniors may believe they can continue to delay enrolling in Parts B and D. But that's not the case -- and so the "COBRA trap" is sprung.
Medicare requires seniors to have "creditable coverage" if they choose not to enroll in the program. In other words, they must have health benefits that Medicare considers to be as good as or better than its own.
Employer-sponsored plans count as "creditable." But CO- BRA generally does not. That doesn't make sense. If an em- ployer-sponsored plan is con- sidered creditable, how can an extension of the exact same plan under COBRA not be?
The moment COBRA ben- eficiaries leave their jobs, they have eight months to sign up for Medicare Part B — and 63 days for Part D — under the terms of their special enrollment period. If they don’t, then they may be locked out of Medicare when their COBRA coverage ends.
That can create quite the headache. Former COBRA beneficiaries have to secure alternate coverage to tide them over while they wait for Medi-
care's open enrollment period at the end of the year.
Then there are the penal- ties associated with late enroll- ment. Those who sign up late for Part B pay a 10 percent penalty for each full 12-month period they could've been en- rolled. On average, these pen- alties add more than $8,000 to a beneficiary's lifetime Part B premiums.
Seniors who fall into the COBRA trap are doing the same thing as their peers with employer-sponsored coverage. They're just being penalized thousands of dollars for it.
Fortunately, there's an easy fix. Last year, Congress passed the bipartisan BENES Act, which streamlines Medicare's enrollment process. But left on the cutting room floor was a provision that would have re- quired the government to notify seniors before their 65th birth- day of the enrollment rules and how Medicare interacts with other insurance coverage.
Congress could bring back this provision in a new bill. Even better, it could eliminate the COBRA trap altogether -- by defining COBRA as credit- able coverage for Medicare.
Janet Trautwein is CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters (www. nahu.org). This piece originally ran in the Orlando (Fla.) Sen- tinel.