I’ll be the first to say that I, as a reporter, am not perfect. No one is. I can sometimes make mistakes in stories, both grammatical and factual. I can sometimes read a bill or a study too quickly and miss something important.

If I get something wrong, I work as quickly as I can to send up a correction to my copy desk. Sometimes mistakes escape me and my copy desk. When you write as many words as I do in a week and you read as many words as my editors do, sometimes mistakes fall through the cracks. But when they are pointed out, we try to fix them.

I believe the same goes for my fellow reporters and news outlets across the state. Mistakes are simply that: mistakes. And while it is easy to try to subscribe motives to reporters and news outlets when mistakes or misunderstandings happen, it’s better to assume that those mistakes and misunderstandings are not for nefarious purposes unless there is evidence of malice.

So, I honestly don’t understand this thing that some lawmakers have done this week in blaming the media when it comes to the bills they are sponsoring or defending.

I’m not going to use this space to put specific lawmakers on blast, mostly because the session is still young and blowing up relationships with committee chairs this early isn’t great for me. And frankly, many lawmakers do this, so consider this an open letter.

Please stop.

First of all, what does blaming the media even mean? “Media” is a broad term, and can include newspapers, radio, TV, nonprofit journalism, etc. But it can also include social media, both posts by professional news outlets and reporters or posts by your random town gadfly who has no idea what they’re talking about.

I’ve found more often than not when lawmakers blame the media for not understanding their bills, what they really mean are keyboard warriors posting in Facebook forums, commenting on posts, and sending direct messages. Social media mobs with digital pitchforks can make anyone cranky for sure.

Now, I try to write about legislation as clearly and concisely as I can, as do my fellow reporters. If I don’t understand someone’s draft bill, I go to the lead sponsor and ask for clarification when possible. But try as I might, I can’t make my readers understand your bills. I can explain a piece of legislation as simply as I can, but someone else can read it and take a completely different meaning from your bill and then march off to the nearest social media platform and spread nonsense.

You, as a lawmaker, have a right to be mad about people misunderstanding your bill. But you need to direct your anger at the keyboard warriors and outrage merchants. And if there are news outlets that are also trying to generate outrage through the use of clickbait, then you would be far better off reaching out directly to those news outlets personally instead of going on a floor rant.

If your issue is you don’t like the attention you are receiving for a bill you introduced or defended on the floor, well, I can’t help you there. As I heard third hand, a lawmaker told a fellow lawmaker recently that if you toss up a volleyball, you can’t get mad when someone tries to spike your ball. That’s volleyball.

I would encourage any lawmakers to check their priorities prior to getting mad when reporters then go on to report about your priorities. And also understand the difference between a member of the public not understanding your bill and a member of the public not agreeing with your bill. There is a clear difference.

And if you’re simply lambasting “the media” because we’re a convenient scapegoat, then also understand you are further eroding trust in local journalism. And when trust erodes with your newspapers, broadcast media, and other professional journalists, you’re creating an environment where people will turn to fly-by-night fake news websites, political operatives moonlighting as “journalists,” and slop created by artificial intelligence.

I would hope lawmakers know what journalists they can turn to provide accurate reporting on their work. We’re the ones sitting in the House and Senate floors. We’re the ones sitting in committee meetings. We’re the reporters and editors in your hometowns trying to follow the legislative session.

The relationship between lawmakers and the press is a symbiotic one when done correctly. Your job is to help us understand the bills you’re voting on. Our job is to accurately report on those bills and where people stand on those bills, either for or against, and provide as much perspective as we can. And both of us must deal with the keyboard warriors and clickbait merchants as best we can.