COLBY, Kan. - Kansas Free Press is a little more active than its mother media site, Everyday Citizen. The publisher's original intention, I believe, was to allow Kansans to put more local concerns and opinions up for discussion on this site.

I've been around a lot of years, all in Kansas, and I have been made aware of issues and events that I was not aware of, until I read it here. The comment section is certainly not limited to Kansans.

The comments, quite often, are much more detailed and revealing than the original articles. That is good. Most of us regular writers are hoping to get a dialogue going to help people become more involved in society's everyday happenings. Some visitors might think we, the writers, are all cheerleaders praising ourselves. But as you'll discover, we sometimes get into some pretty heated debates amongst ourselves.

SHAWNEE, Kan. - The modern day peanut gallery has found its' home in the comments section of online media. Common guidance is to avoid the unsolicited commentary, and the cruelty that can come with it.

While I understand such advice, I don't generally follow it.

Sometimes, I wish I would.

GREAT BEND, Kan. - Citizen journalism is as American as the First Amendment. It's the truest 'freedom of speech' since it is not sponsored by corporate donors.

Most commercial news sources today are beholden to their advertisers, be they local or corporate. It is tough to fight corruption when corruption is your main source of income. News channel's or newspapers are not the only way to get news nowadays.

Too often, also, commercial newspapers and other corporate sponsored news sources focus on federal level politics. Local politics are pushed aside. Writers on this and similar sites are providing valuable services as they provide articles that are usually of interest to the Kansas public. Kansas Free Press is a fantastic way for citizens to publish information that otherwise would be shelved by commercial media.

SALINA, Kan. - Growing up in a small town near Hays, I thought I lived in Western Kansas -- that is, until I came to teach at Garden City Community College. Driving west through Great Bend, my wife complained softly of the distance: another hour to grain-elevator Kalvesta; yet another to big-town Garden City, pop. 13,254 (now 27,000 plus).

Wide-open spaces seemed wider yet as I worked my summer job with the Soil Conservation Service.  Most days, nearly an hour's drive was our minimum to reach Finney County farmers.  Plains stretched from horizon to horizon, interrupted only by the occasional farmstead, tree, tractor, or cattle herd. Isolation was easy to come by and difficult to overcome.

There was no public radio.

That is, until two young, ambitious Garden City grads, Quentin Hope and Malcolm Smith, came back with high hopes and a big idea -- creating an area public radio station.

COLBY, Kan. - Congratulations to Vickie for her recent article. She may have set the record for motivating response to opinion articles here at Kansas Free Press (KFP).

Our editor-in-chief says we have over 332,000 people who came in and browsed the menu at KFP in the month of January 2011. Our editor also tells us that from 11,000 to 17,000 unique visitors come to KFP's website every day! We all appreciate those who take the time and effort to join in the discussions, both pro and con to our articles. We also appreciate that our regular contributors and visitors show courtesy and respect, even for those with quite differing opinions.

When we look around the world and observe the conflicts between people and nations, we can't help but notice that religion is a major contributor to the world's conflicts. I don't think any single brand of religion is free from radical extremists. All religions and non-religions (Judaism, Muslim, Christian, atheists, humanists, naturalists, etc.) have those who wish to dominate society around them.

WICHITA, Kan. - Three weeks ago, I got a letter from the Wichita Eagle informing me I would be charged an extra $1.47 for the Thanksgiving Day edition of the paper. My subscription fee is automatically deducted from my checking account every month, making the subscription less than what I would pay at the news stand and less than what I would pay if I wrote a check every month. This automatic deduction also gives me access to online services that I could use if I wanted to and it allows me to keep the subscription current without worrying about it.

Many people, including my children, have canceled their print newspaper subscriptions and now read the paper online. I, being of the generation that grew up drinking my morning coffee with a newspaper in my hand, don't want to fire up my computer first thing in the morning to read the news and do the puzzles. I know reading a print version of the paper makes me a dinosaur nowadays, but I don't care. The morning paper in my hands is a pleasure I don't want to give up.

COLBY, Kan. - We are doing a little better in Kansas Free Press than Everyday Citizen is, but that's not good enough! 12 articles by 10 journalists over a period of 20 days isn't very impressive.

With the talent and diverse experiences of our writers, we should be doing better. We can't wield much influence if we don't produce.

BASEHOR, Kan. - In the past 12 hours, through a conversation at a party, and a magazine article, I've had confirmation of something that's been bothering me for months.

Last night I sat and talked with a woman whom I've met a couple of times before at parties. While we've never talked politics before, last night we discussed our feelings and attitudes about the current situation with the Federal government, and politics in general. She allowed as how she generally votes for Republican candidates, although she does her homework and votes for the candidate rather than the party. She said that, of all the politicians she could think of, the one who impressed her the most was Bill Clinton. She went on at some length about his intellectual brilliance, policy wonkishness, and command of seemingly trivial details that made the difference in so many arm-twisting sessions with political opponents. And, despite her grave disappointment in his philandering, she still gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to governing. My response, which I've made numerous times before, is that even the most conservative among the American people would much rather trust a philanderer than they'd trust someone who'd steal their money and tell them it was for their own good--i.e., Republicans. She laughed and said that she agreed.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Community Bridge, Manhattan's alternative to talk radio, is now entering its fifth year on the air with another season dedicated to informing the public debate on issues of interest to Kansans.

When I started this program in June 2006, it was mostly to provide some balance to the other talk shows on KSDB 91.9 and commercial radio in the Manhattan area. Every talk show was presented from a rabid right-wing perspective.

For over a year, the K-State's Progressive Coalition had been trying to get a moderate to left of center show on the air waves, but were blocked by the executive staff of the station. Only after a talk show host had had a guest who on air referred to the film "Brokeback Mountain" as "bareback mounting" and used other expletives to describe gay and lesbian people, that resulted in a formal complaint being filed with the FCC, did space become available for an alternative to the toxic talk of Rush Limbaugh wannabes.

Community Bridge began with one goal: to provide community with quality programming from a progressive point of view. To that end the show has worked hard to inform the public debate and provide listeners with content that is not available on other local stations.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - The June 10th edition of Community Bridge, Manhattan's alternative to talk radio, featured the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Kansas Free Press, in a follow-up to our 2009 show about the online newspaper. Now in its eighth month of activity with over 70 writers, the Kansas Free Press provides Kansans with an alternative to the mainstream media.

She talks about how the Kansas Free Press has grown, what some future plans include, how people can support the newspaper, the mainstream media in Kansas, and the role Net Neutrality plays in allowing the Kansas Free Press to survive and reach its public.

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