An article in last month’s issue about seniors leading political protests in downtown Wichita generated phone calls and emails from some readers who thought it was biased against President Trump.
In case other readers felt the same way, I thought I’d let you know my thoughts on the subject. First off, I appreciate and take seriously all reader feedback. The Active Age will always correct errors of fact and I’m open to all concerns regarding our content. Plus, I enjoy talking with readers who take the time to contact me.
The Active Age is a nonpartisan publication. Indeed, as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, we are prohibited by law from endorsing political candidates at any level. We can and have advocated for certain issues affecting seniors, but that’s not relevant to this particular discussion.
At The Active Age, a good number of our stories fall into one of two categories: Seniors doing interesting things and interesting things for seniors to do. From my point of view, the article about political protesters was simply an example of the first, no more and no less. If, during the previous administration, scores of older anti-Biden protesters had spent several days a week leading noisy protests at one of the busiest intersections in town, we would have done a story about that, too.
A couple of readers complained that the article didn’t include views from the “other side.” If our reporter had encountered any pro-Trump protesters downtown, they would have been included in the article. But it seems to go without saying that the president is supported by many Kansans, since he won 57 percent of the state’s vote last year, a landslide by any measure.
A couple of other readers thought we should just stay away from politics completely due to the current polarization on that front. I don’t agree, although I would note that stories touching on politics are relatively rare in these pages.
After talking with these readers, a few said they understood my position and a few more said we’d just have to agree to disagree. Three readers cancelled their subscriptions, for which I am sorry. It’s certainly not our intention to cause anybody to stop reading because they object to one of about 300 stories and items we’ve published during 2025.
Finally, one reader made me smile by informing me that older anti-Trump protesters are sometimes known as “grantifa,” a play on the antifa movement. “Gotta see the humor in it all,” she wrote.
In these times, I couldn’t agree more.
Contact Joe Stumpe at joe@theactiveage.com.
