Meet The Editor: TJ Kremer III

FRANKFORT, IL. — Trust: Five little letters that add up to a heck of a lot more than a whole heck of a lot. Trust takes a long time to earn, yet can be wiped out in a nanosecond when abused. And, I think, trust is something that many people have lost with “the media.” I aim to help restore some of that trust in you, dear reader.

To that end, it is my goal to adhere to three main tenets that I hope will be the bedrock of my time here at Patch: transparency, accountability and commitment.

So… transparency…

I have not always been a journalist in my adult life. I’ve had many jobs in my 43 trips around the Sun on this spaceship we call Earth, from bouncer to movie theater projectionist, from waiter to social worker. It wasn’t until 2010 that I finally decided to give college the old college try, and it was there that I think I may have found my calling.

Also, TJ Kremer is not even my real name. My name is Thomas Joseph Kremer, III. I shorten it to TJ because that fits better on a byline. Now you know. Transparency.

I have also been called many other names in my time, from the cute and flattering — one friend calls me “baby shoes,” and my grandmother used to call me “Clark Kent” — to the not so cute or flattering, which I am not able to print here.

About that accountability…

Through all the various jobs and life experiences — of which there have been many, as is true for all of us — the one constant has been people. People are what makes jobs worth doing, or not doing if the people are no good.

And since we are all, I think, people, we are all accountable to each other to varying degrees. It is my job as a journalist to hold governments and people accountable, to make sure they are doing the things they said they would, or answering for the things they should not have done. And it is your job, dear reader, to hold journalists accountable by questioning what’s being reported and how it’s being reported. Are the sources reliable? Is the information accurate? Is there more to what’s being reported and, if so, why was that left out?

The point is to question everything. It's how we grow, both individually and as a society. Democracy only works when we have a well-informed public, and it serves no one anywhere to fail in our accountability to each other.

Last, but certainly not least, commitment…

I am not the man behind the curtain pulling switches that show you what I think you need to be shown; I am a member of this community. I have lived in Mokena for the past four years. I have come to know some of you who may be reading this right now. I expect I will meet many more of you before it’s all said and done, whether it be through an article I write or in line at the grocery store.

When I’m reporting on the news and events that are shaping our community, that same news and those same events are shaping me, too. I am embedded in the community and, thus, I have a responsibility to be committed to it, both civically and morally. My commitments to my profession and my community are of the highest order.

So, there you have it. This is me. This is what you, dear reader, can expect from me. I do not make any claim to being perfect, though I will constantly reach for it and hope that when I fail someone will show me so that I can make it right.

So when you see me out and about (I’ll usually be the guy in the Hawaiian shirt, hard to miss) stop and say, “Hello.” Let me know what you liked or didn’t like about our reporting at Patch. Let me know what you, dear reader, think we should cover more of or are covering too much. Let me get to know you, as a person, because people are what it’s all about. Or you can always drop me a line at tj.kremer@patch.com.

May the Force be with you, always.