Email: john.mckay@patch.com
Phone: 810-986-9481 Hometown: Fenton Residence: Rochester Hills Birthday: Sept. 21 Bio: I am the local editor for Rochester-Rochester Hills Patch. I served as editor of Plymouth-Canton Patch from May 2011-March 2013 and have been editor of Rochester-Rochester Hills Patch since April 2013. I came to Patch in 2011 after two years of living and working in Port Huron, where I served as a copy editor, paginator and blogger for the Port Huron Times Herald. A lifelong Michigander, I was raised in Fenton. I cut my teeth as a reporter working for the Tri-County Times in Fenton, where I covered the Fenton and Linden school districts, as well as Fenton, Fenton Township, Holly, Linden, Rose Township and Tyrone Township government and community affairs. I am a journalism graduate from the University of Michigan-Flint and was managing editor of the Michigan Times, its student newspaper. I've been working in journalism for about 12 years, having freelanced for a number of magazines and newspapers. Your Beliefs At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know. Politics  How would you describe your political beliefs? I tend to lean a fair amount to the left on a lot of fiscal and social issues. When it comes to local elections, however, I realize party affiliation means far less than it does on the national stage, so my votes have tended to span both sides of the ballot. Naturally, I feel injecting my personal opinion into news stories would be inappropriate.