As a 12-year-old, I used to peruse the news as it was stuck on the window of the newspaper office. I couldn’t afford to buy a paper (I think it cost three cents in 1936, one of the Depression years).

In those days, what the newspaper printed was taken as gospel.

Now, my fear is that many newspapers are being bought up by one group and then used as a tool to present only that owner’s point of view. People cannot get an honest presentation of the news (facts, that is) from the Internet alone. Web sites can be distorted to present results to suit agendas. I liken them to a Pandora’s box. Many people are accepting scams and untruths, just as I did as a 12-year-old, reading the window postings.

I have heard that some writers in Europe have been jailed for telling the truth. Our First Amendment is an object of curiosity.

Many Europeans would like to see the U.S. outlaw firearms (the Second Amendment). I’m not paranoid about the horrible mass killings. A good many people, including myself, should have the means of self-defense.

If the newspapers are taken over and subverted, and people stop writing or reading, who will tell the public the truth? The unvarnished facts?

Hasn’t anyone remarked on the number of newspapers being bought on a national scale? Or locally and statewide, newspapers quitting or grouping into one entity?

Archie Travers, Auburn