"Media perceptions are a personal problem until they’re not" by: Jessica Shepard

    I’ve had various roles in the communications industry over the years, but being at the Sentinel is my longest-running gig. 
  Outside of freelance work, of course. 
  Still, I learned early on that I’m in a career field where I know people aren’t going to like me or the work I do because I’m putting them in the spotlight. 
  To be fair, I’m not exactly everyone’s cup of tea during my personal off hours either and that doesn’t bother me. 
  I’m lucky that my mom raised me to not put stock or merit in the perceptions of others since it reflects their own insecurities and issues. 
  However, the caveat to this mindset is knowing that you’re putting 100% of your best work out there and being secure in that fact. 
  Truthfully, I know that we’re accomplishing this at the Sentinel every week. 
  But, overall, this job seems to come with harsh criticisms and backlash from so-called community pillars, elected officials, and the at-large public. 
  And honestly, it doesn’t usually bother me because I know that they have no idea what they’re talking about. 
  I hear complaints about the “media” as if it’s some boogeyman out to ruin someone or something all the time. 
  They like to use the broad definition of media as a collective rather than making the cognitive and verbal distinction between local and national media. 
  However, when I’ve reached out to those complainers I’ve found that they do one of two things: backpedal pretty quickly to make a correction or double-down on crying about something they’ve perceived wrongly. 
  Even then, I’ve learned that it’s really only a pathetic defense mechanism on their part any way – kind of like bullying. 
  All I really have to say to that is that if you don’t want to be perceived negatively, maybe you should take steps to re-evaluate yourself and do better. 
  If you want to avoid being part of the community gossip and rumor mill for doing things perceived as shady, criminal, corrupt, or otherwise questionable, maybe you should re-consider your own behaviors first. 
  Maybe even refresh yourself on the Texas Open Meetings Act and do some introspection on how much you’re toeing the line when withholding taxpayer-funded information. 
  After all, if it isn’t information held as confidential by a government statute then you can bet that someone, somewhere will seek it out or request it and therefore make more work for government employees. 
  Plus, if it’s formally requested through the Public Information Act, then there’s a 10-day limit on replying with the relevant information as requested and if you violate that, then you can be subject to legal action. 
  Honestly, I’ve never had a request miss its deadline, but it would make this job easier on all of us if you didn’t withhold such information or force me to formally request it. 
  My job is to present the public with the facts of a situation to keep them better informed of what’s going on around them. 
  Furthermore, we diversify that by covering a wide range of meetings, news topics, and events. 
  The only pages where we run dedicated opinions are pages 3 and 5 depending on the space we’ve got to fill – that’s it!